The Homes of our Ancestors 



IN 



STONINGTON, CONN 



BY 



Grace Denison wheeler 



SALEM, MASS. 
Xewcomb & Gauss, Printers. 

1903. 



THE. LiBRAHY OF 
COIMORESS, 

Two Copies Received 

SEP 17 1903 

CQf>y'ili,r.\ fcntty 
/CL*.^ ^?- XXc. No 
COPY B. 



Copyrlylif. 1003 

BY 

Okack Dkxiso.v AVjikki.kk. 



TO 



ilTij Jatljcr aub lltotl)cr, 

WITH MANY PLEASANT :M EMORIES OF TWILIGHT TALKS 

AND MID-DAY DKIYES AMONG THE HILLS AND 

YALES OF STONINGTON. 



PREFACE. 

All my life, I have heard and enjoyed the incidents and 
anecdotes, connected with the old houses referred to within 
this book, and believing that others would appreciate them 
also, I have endeavored to arrange them for publication, and 
most sincerely thank all the friends who have so kindly helped 
to make this work possible. I trust all errors and omissions 
will be pardoned, and that it will prove acceptable, as it is 
intended to be a companion book to my father's " History of 
Stonington,'' which was devoid of illustrations. 

Grace Denisox Wheeler. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



^^>\1\ 



Page 
Birthplace of the aiitliov, 

Frontispiece 

'homas Stanton house. 2 

The Thomas Miner house, 6 

Road ^Meeting-house, 9 

The Tavern house, 19 

Church parlors, 2(5 

The Baker house, 2S 

^Ir. Charles 8. Noyes house, 29 

Joseph Noyes house, 30 

Dr. Jonathan Gray house, '.\2 

Thomas Palmer house, :V.\ 

( 'ato's house, 34 

Dudley Brown house, 36 

Woodljridge house, 37 

The jMoss homestead, 39 

Peleg Denison house, 40 

The Gallup house, 41 

The Copp house, 42 

Home of the Stanton Bros., 44 

Dean Mills, 47 

Alec Palmer house, r)4 

Grist mill, 5(; 

The Fanning house, ^u 

The Robert Denison house, o8 

Darius Denison house, 59 

Ambrose ]\finer house, GO 

Cavanaugh house, (»2 
^^:^he Geo. Denison homestead, i'u) 
Chimney of ]^enadam Gal- 

lu])'s house, 60 

The Joshua Brown house, 67 

White Hall, 68 
Mrs. Lucy Stanton Wheeler's 

residence, 69 

Col. Nathan Wheeler house, 70 

Stephen Avery house, 7 1 

Ebenezer Williams house, 72 

Nathaniel Williams house, 73 

Thomas Williams house, 74 

Richard Hempstead house, 7.") 

The ]\rartiu A\'hite house, 76 



Page 

Kellogg house, 77 
The Eldredge house, 78 
Gen. John Gallup house, 79 
The ]5ennett house, SO 
The Clift house, 81 
Hyde mansion, 82 
Elijah AVilliams' house, 84 
Chester house. So 
Amos Williams hotel, 86 
Enoch Burrows house, 87 
Dr. jManning house, 88 
Christopher Leeds house, 89 
The Lewis house, 90 
Prentice Williams house, 91 
])ea. Eleazer Williams house, 93 
Stanton Williams house, 95 
Beebe Denison house, 97 
tlohn Denison homestead, 98 
Henry N. Palmer's residence,100 
Judge Gilbert Collins' resi- 
dence, past and present, 302 
The Nat Noyes house, 104 
Samuel Doughty house, 106 
Grandison barn, 107 
Capt. Alex Palmer place, 109 
Dr. William Hyde house, 110 
Polly Breed house. 111 
William Terrett house, HI 
Samuel Trumbull house, 112 
Capt. Lodowick Niles house, 114 
Dea. Fellows house, 115 
Jabish Holmes house, 116 
The Cobb house, 117 
Joseph Wright house, 119 
The Fanning house, 120 
Capt. Amos Palmer house, 121 
Col. Oliver Smith house, 124 
Capt. Edm'd Fanning house, 128 
Dr. Lord's hall, ' 129 
Aunt ]\Iary Howe's house, 130 
Col. Joseph Smith home- 
stead, 132 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Eells house, 

Samuel Denison Louse, 

The Rodman house, 

Zelnilon Stanton house, 

Eklei- Swan's house, 

Ehler Elihu Chesebrough 

house, 
Dudley ralmer house, 
Billings Burtch house, 
Thomas Buitch house, 
Kiehard Eldred house, 
Ashbey house, 
Nathaniel Miner lionse, 
Aeors Sheffield, or Capt. 

Ben Pendleton's house, 
Amos Sheffield house. 
The Morrill house, 
Capt. Jesse Beebe house, 
Fairbrother house, 
Phelps' house. 
The Waldron house, 
John Denison house, 
Joshua Haley house, 
Thomas Ash house, 
-Eev. Ira Hart homestead, 
Dr. Charles Phelps house, 
York place, 
Mount Pleasant, 
Crary house, 
Samuel Wheeler house, 
Elisha Williams house, 
Lester Wheeler house, 
George Culver house, 
Wheeler school house, 
Hyde Place, 

Paul Wheeler homestead, 
Perez Wheeler house, 
Maj. Gen. Wm. Williams 

house, 
Clement jMiner house, 
Home of Judge Pichard A. 

Wheeler, 
The Jonathan Wheelei 

homestead. 
High barn, 
Clark Davis house, 



Page 

i:u 
i:!6 
i;{7 



139 
140 
141 
142 

14;! 
14;5 

144 

145 
145 
147 

148 
14*) 
150 
151 
152 
153 
154 
155 
1 58 

i(;o 

162 
lO;! 
164 
166 
168 
169 
170 
174 
175 
177 

179 
180 

183 

187 
189 
190 



Page 
Putnam house, 194 

Joseph Smith house, 195 

Col. Amos Chesebrough 

homestead, 197 

]Miner Noyes house, 200 

S(iuire Joseph Noyes house, 201 
Ephraim Williams Place, 203 
James Noyes house, 
(Japt. Thos.Noyes mansion. 
The old home of Dea. John 

Noyes, 
Samuel Stanton house. 
Rev. Nathaniel Eells house, 
Adam States, or Wentworth 

place, 
Samuel I'almer house. 
The Rhodes mansion. 
Col. \\m. Randall house, 
Kenyon house, 
Stephen Babcock place, 
Joshua Gardner house, 
Briggs Jeffords house, 



205 

206 

208 
209 
211 

213 
214 
215 
218 
221 
222 
223 
224 



The Jimmy Noyes homestead, 226 



227 
227 
228 
229 
230 
232 
233 
234 



The Helmn's house. 
The Sheffield house, 
Dr. \N'm. Robinson house, 
Tlunuas Noyes house, 
Paul Babcock place, 
Old Bradford house. 
The Davis homestead, 
AVilliam Stanton house, 
Thomas Stanton's home- 
'' stead , 
Lemuel Palmer's home, 
Baldwin house, 
The Fish place. 
Dr. Nathan Palmer's home, 242 
James liabeock homestead, 243 
Harry Hinckley house, 
King David Chesebrough's 

estate, 
Samuel Stanton house. 
The birthplace of Capt. 

Charles P. Williams, 
Elias Chesebrough house, 
Ezra Chesebrough house, 



235 
236 
239 
240 



245 

246 

248 

249 
251 

252 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON, 

old Homesteads sacred to all that can 
Gladden or sadden the heart of man, 
Over whose thresholds of oak and stone 
Life and death have come and gone. 

When our ancestors came to Stoniugton to live, they certainly 
chose the most beautiful places in the whole town to locate 
themselves, at Pawcatuck Rock, Wequetequock and Quiambaug 
Cove, Mystic and Quaquataug-. We notice they settled usual- 
ly on land near the water and for very good reasons : in the 
water was fish of many kinds, while on the shore, clams could 
be found and above the water were sea-gulls and wild ducks. 
On the low land near by could be cut the marsh hay for their 
cattle which they had brought with them, as we see by the deed 
to Walter Palmer from ex-Gov. Haynes in 1653. We know 
that the landscape did not present the same ap[)earance then, 
that it cToes now, but the same sun threw its lights and shadows 
over hill and valley and brightened the sparkling waters or 
darkened them as the clouds passed over. The same wind Ijlew 
its gentle zephyrs in summer and gales in winter. The ebb and 
flow of the tide, seemingly controlled by the moon, was watched 
then as now at Wequetequock Cove, where William Chese- 
brough, blacksmith and gunsmith in the summer of 1649, built 
the first house in Stonington, not far from the present residence 
of Mr. Irtis Maine, on the west bank and overlooking the Cove, 
and brought his wife and four sons there to live. 'J'here is no 
record left of the style or appearance of this house, but it was 
probably a log house as were most of those of the early settlers. 

1 



2 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

Some years after, frame bouses were built of lieav}' oak timbers, 
half a yard Avdde, the rafters were much larger tlian those of 
our modern houses and the sides of the houses were covered 
with oak clapboards, smoothed with a shaving knife. Within, 
onl}^ the sides of the rooms, which were about seven feet high, 
Avere plastered. The floor was of oak plank. The windows 
consisted of two small frames, set with diamond shaped panes, 
fastened by hinges, that were secured to the side of the house. 
The outer doors were of doulJe oaken plank with spikes driven 
into them and fastened at night by heavy wooden bars which 
rendered secure the inmates through the niofht. 




THOMAS STANTON HOUSE. 



Mr. Thomas Stanton obtained land at Pawcatuck in 16.50 
and bnilt his trading-house or store there in 1651 and his house 
before 1657, in a beautiful spot near the river, Init a short dis- 
tance from the present home of Mr. Charles Eandall, where 
now by the road-side can be seen two grand old elm trees. 
After a few years he rebuilt it in the same place (with perhaps 
some of the same Avood), which stood there till a short time 
since. I am indebted to Mrs. Harriet Stanton for the following 
sketch of her ancestor's dwelling place. — ''The frame of this house 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 3 

was largely of oak, with window frames of sassafras. It \A-as 
built in two sections, the west side being added a genera- 
tion or so later. It was two stories iu the main part with a 
steep roof and fronted to the south, the lower story was seven 
feet in height and tlie up})er story six feet. On the north side 
was a lean-to some lifteen feet wide, which extended on the 
east or earliest built portion including the chimney, its roof 
being a continuation of that on the main building and slopino- 
low down to the top of the door and window on the north side. 
From the center rose the large chimney, ten or twelve feet 
square at the base, with fire-places on the sides and rear. South 
of the chinmey was the front entr}', which, inclnding the stair- 
way, was about ten by twelve feet. Doors on either side opened 
into the front rooms ; these doors as well as the outer ones were 
surmounted by open spaces (^arved in the wood in scroll pat- 
tern and })i-ovided with swinging shutters for cold weather. 
The outer door was very large and heavy and was fastened by 
a wooden latch of adequate jn'oportions. Stairs on the left, led 
by two turns or landings, which were divided from corner to 
corner, to a passage over the entry below, from which at the 
right and left, doors opened into the east and west chambers 
and these rooms were of the same size as the rooms on the first 
floor. The upper entry was lighted by a window iu the center, 
over the front door. Open stairs of oak led to the garret al)ove, 
Avhich was lighted by a window in each end. The front stairs 
were of pme, as well as the balustrade, which was fashioned by 
hand work. The windows were large and high and the panes 
of glass, small. Including the garret, there were six rooms in 
the main structure. The west room, above and below Avas 
lighted I)y four windows, two at the south and two at tlie 
west. The east room, which was not so large, had one window 
to the south and a door and window at the east below, and 
three windows in the room above. .Vil these rooms were pro- 
vided with ample fire-places. The kitchen occupied the west 
end of the lean-to with doors opening into the east fi'ont room 



4 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

and out doors at the north, with one window also to the north. 
On the west side was an open stairway, made in ladder shape, 
which led to the room above ; this room occupied the space of 
the kitchen, bedroom and pantry l)elow and the roof slanted 
down to the floor on the north side, it had a tire-place and was 
the domain of the blacks. In the floor of this lean-to was a 
trap door, leading by steps to a square excavation : in this place 
valual)les of the family were stored for safety at various times ; 
once in the time of King Philip's war in llJTo, and the back-logs 
were placed over the opening to conceal it. East of the kitchen 
was a square bedroom opening out of the front room, with one 
window to the east, and back of this bedroom Avas a Ijutter}- (a 
dark room with shelves). There were also closets in both 
front rooms, made by the slope of the cliiraney with the upper 
part in open buffet style. The tire-places were deep caverns, 
the jamb and back being at right angles to each other and the 
hearth stones. In the sides of the Jiving room, hano-ino- on 
spikes, driven into pieces of wood, built into the structure for 
that purpose, were the long-handled frying pans, the pot hooks, 
the I)oring iron, tlie branding iron, the long iron peel, the roast- 
ing hook, the fire pan, the scoop-shaped fire shovel, with a trivet 
or two. The stout slice and tongs leaned against the jambs in 
front; in the best room, these were surmounted with brass to 
match the Are dogs or andirons and were accompanied l)y a 
bellows. In the living room all these were of iron. In one 
end of the fire-place was the oven, its mouth flush with the back 
of the tire-place and closed with an iron door. In this nook, 
when the oven was not in use, stood a square oaken block or 
bench, on which the children could sit and study the catechism 
and spelling book by the light of the fire, or watch the stars 
through the square tower above their heads, their view unob- 
structed, save by the black, shiny lug-pole and its great trammel, 
or in their season its burden of hams and fletches of jwrk and 
venison, hanging to be cured in the smoke. The mantle tree 
in the livins'-room was a huge beam of oak while in the front 



OLD HOMES IN STO^'INGTON. 5 

room and chambers was a pine shelf and panel work of the 
same wood ; behind these were small closets, in which was stored 
the choice crockery ware, pewter and silver, brought from 
England. In these rooms tires were seldom built exce[)t at 
weddings, funerals and state occasions. Here lived generation 
after generation in a direct line from the first settlement until 
about 1883, when the old house, much decayed, was taken down 
to make room for a new road which was laid out to pass directly 
over its site." 

Thomas Stanton's son Thomas, with his wife, who was the 
daughter of Capt. George Denison by his first wife Bridget 
Thompson, also lived here and his daughter Dorothy Stanton grew 
up in this old house, which was quite near to their "•Trading- 
House,'" the only commercial place in the whole region. She 
became acquainted with a young man named Nicholas Lynde, 
who was supercargo of a vessel which traded along this coast, 
and they were married in 1696, While on a voyage to the 
West.Indies he died, in 1703, and after a little time ]\Irs. Lynde 
with her two children went to live with their grandfather, Col. 
Joseph Lynde in Charlestown, Mass., and there the mother 
married second, John Trerice, in 1708, a widower forty years 
older tlian herself ; after his death she married Samuel Friidc 
Sr., of Stonington, and had one child, William, born in 1711. 
Mr. Frink dying in 1713, she married again in 1718 her cousin, 
Robert Denison, and lived at Montville, Ct. Their oldest child 
they named George Denison after their distinguished grand- 
father, Capt. George, and the daughter was named Dorothy. 
]Mrs. Denison lived until she was 105 years old. 

In 16o"2, Mr. Thomas Miner built his house on the east bank 
of Wequetequock Cove, just a little distance north of the old 
Fish house, now owned by the Road Cong. Society. In this 
same house ^h'. Walter Palmer came to live in 1653, as his 
daughter Grace had married Mr. Miner. There is nothing now 
to show the site of this house, except a slight depression in the 
ground. Soon after Mr. Palmer came here to live, Mr. ]\Lner 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 7 

moved to Qiiiambaiig and built a new house, facing the south, 
just east of the present residence of Mr. Cornelius ]Miner and 
near the bhie waters of this Cove; a little hollow in the ground 
and a few old stone steps, with a long row of lilacs which are 
said to have been brought from England, are the only marks 
left of the old home of Thomas Miner which was situated on 
land purchased of Cary l^atham of New London. 

Captain John GalUip chose the east side of Sicanemus or 
Mystic River, on which to build his house in 1654, quite near 
the Dea. AVarren Lewis house, between Greenmanville and the 
cemetery. Capt. Gallup's house was double, two stories in front 
and one in the rear. It faced the south and had a slanting roof. 
The walls were of heavy timbers and the few windows were 
small, high and narrow. The great chimney was in the center, 
with fire-places opening into three large rooms on the first floor, 
and four upon the second. The second story projected beyond 
the lower, and deep cellars were below the house for storing 
the winter provisions. The mortar was made of moss mixed 
Avith clay, while some of the other old houses had the cellar mor- 
tared with sea-weed mixed with oyster shells. 

Captain George Denisou went inland a little, but yet where 
he could overlook the water, and built his house in 1G54 a little 
west of the present old Denison house occupied now by INIr. and 
iNIrs, Reuben Ford. This first house was built of logs, after- 
wards he built a larger one, called the ^Mansion House and gave 
it to his son William, whose son George built the present one. 
Capt. George built a palisaded fort west of this house (parts of 
which can still be seen ), where he mustered in the volunteers 
who went under his command to the famous swamp fight in 
1676. He was also Provost-Marshal of the forces east of the 
river Thames, who pursued the Narragansett and Wampanaug 
Indians, defeated them, and brought the Indian Chief, Canonchet 
to Anguilla in Stonington, who after refusing to make peace 
with the English, Avhich was offered him, was shot by order 
of the ofiicer in command just west of Anguilla, near the old 



o OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

Indian burying o-round, which is still protected with apple trees 
and bushes, which have grown and encircled the graves on this 
hillside. Here, also, Major John Mason held his council of war 
and after consulting with Oneco and other Indian Chiefs, decided 
upon the mode of attack on the Pequots, at .Afystic Hill, which 
site is now well marked by a statue representing Captain :\Iason 
in his soldier's attire. 

The following is a copy of a letter sent by Capt. George 
Deuison to his first wife, Bridget Thompson, in 1G40. 

It is an ordinance, my dear, divine 

Which God unto the sons of men makes shine 

Even marriage is that whereof I speak 

And unto you my mi] id therein I beak 

In Paradise, of Adam, God did tell 

To be alone, for man, would not be well 

He in His wisdom thought it right 

To bring a woman into Adam's sight 

A helper that for him might be m'ost mete 

And comfort him by her doing discreet 

I of that stock am sprung, I mean from him 

And also of that tree I am a limb 

A branch though young, yet do I think it good 

That God's great vows by man be not withstood 

Alone I am, an helper I would find 

Which might give satisfaction to mv mind 

The party that doth satisfy the same 

Is Mistress Bridget Thompson by her name. 

God having drawn my affections unto thee 

My heart's desire is thine may be to me 

Thus with my Wettings though I trouble you 

Yet pass these by because I know not how 

Though they at this time should much better be 

For love it is the first have been to thee 

And I could wish that they much better were 

Therefore I pray accept them as they are 

80 hoping my desire I shall obtain 

Your own true lover I, George Denison by name 

From my father's house in Eoxbury 

To Miss Bridget Thompson, Stonington, 1640. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON". 9 

Captain Robert Park's house, bnilt by him in lGo5, was on 
the western slope of Quaquataug Hill, comniandino; a grand 
view of hill and valley and the winding water of Mystic Rivei-. 

jNIr. John Shaw came to Pawcatuck about this same time but 
it is not known where he built his house. His son afterwards 
lived at Taugwonk, where Mr. Latham ^liner once lived. 




\Ii MEETING-HOUSE. 



Within a few years Josiali Witter, John Searles, Edmund 
Fanning, James York and still others, came to Stonington and 
settled, till in 1668 there were forty-three heads of families in 
town. The little cluater of houses at the Road, Avith the Church 
and schoolhouse, is a gentle reminder of those early days, when 
in 1667 the planters of the town appointed a committee to hiy 
out Home Lots for each inhabitant. These lots contained twelve 



10 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

acres each and were situated upon each side of the ministry 
hind which was on Agreement Hill, where the Road Meeting- 
house now stands, (called so hecanse the first road that was 
travelled in this town passed through the town plat and ])y tlie 
old Meeting House on Agreement Hill where all the town 
gatherings were held and public meetings transacted. ) 

The present structure was built in 1829 and is unchanged 
except that the higli, mahogany, circular pulpit has lieen re- 
placed by a modern platform and desk. The first pulpit was 
supported hy slender, wooden pillars and was so high that chairs 
could be placed underneath. It was reached by stairs on either 
side, and back of the minister were long, crimson, satin 
damask curtains, draped away and held in place by heavy 
cord and tassels of the same color. The large cushion, on 
wliich the Biljle rested, was also draped with the same material 
and heavy tassels hung from the corners. About 1855, this 
pulpit and draperies were removed and a large solid pulpit took 
its place, Avhicli remained till the gift of the present one by 
iNIrs. Charles S. Hull. Swinging baize doors fill the places of 
the former wooden ones. A simple chandelier is suspended 
from the ceiling and a furnace affords warmth instead of the two 
large stoves with their long pipes which used to extend the en- 
tire length of the room. The pews are high, painted white with 
cherry railings at the top and closed by doors which are fastened 
by small Avooden buttons. Either side of the pulpit are the 
doors to the body of the church, entering Avhich, you face the 
congregation and u})on seating yourself, find the minister is be- 
fore you. In plain sight of all hangs the State motto, " He who 
transplanteth still sustains," while above the pulpit is a velvet 
tablet with the three dates thereon, 1657, 1674 and 1874. The 
first represents the earliest religious service in the town at the 
house of Walter Palmer in Wequetequock by the Rev. William 
Thompson of Braintree, Mass. ( brother-in-law of Capt. George 
Denison ), who at the time was a missionar}- to the Fequot Indians. 
Afterwards the planters built a meeting house a little south- 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 11 

west of Mr. Heuiy M. Palmer's house on Montauk Aveuue. It 
was raised ]\Iay IGth, 16(31, and in Se[)teniber the Commissioners 
of the United Colonies attended religious worship there, led by 
Capt. John jNIason. It is not known how large the house was, 
or its style, but probably it was a small building, for six years 
after the town records a vote that was passed to repair it and 
make it more comfortable. Several ministers taught here till 
in 1664, when Mr. James Noyes of Newbury, Mass., accepted the ^ 
invitation to l)ecome their (lospel preaching minister and re- 
mained till his death in 1719. 

He was paid at first, a salary of £50 currency (or $166.66) 
annually, and it was agreed to give liberally towards building 
him a house, which was situated between Anguilla and Noyes 
Brook, where the present red house stands. We can draw 
upon our imagination to the utmost in making a mental picture 
of this new home and its surroundings, but it is only known 
that the house was large, two stories in front and one in the 
rear. The distance to his first church, on Montauk Ave. was 
nearl}' five miles and we can almost see him on a Sunday morn- 
ing, setting forth on horseback, with his fair young bride, Dor- 
othy Stanton, on a pillion behind him, for their ride across the 
hills and valleys, on what was then an Indian path, till the road 
was laid out in 1669 from Pawcatuck Bridge to the Ferry, and 
after the solenni and impressive religious service turning their 
horse's head to the east and riding back, when the shadows be- 
gan to lenghten (for then the meeting lasted most of the day), 
to this first parsonage in the town, standing at that time, in al- 
most a forest, and seeming quite unlike the pleasant, country 
fields and roads where now commodious houses, barns and many 
modern improvements can be seen, upon a drive through this 
same localit3\ After a time, ]Mr. Noyes had the use of the 
ministry land and his salary was raised to £100 with several 
grants of land. During his pastorate here of 55 years and 6 
months, he baptized 1176 persons. He was a distinguished 
preacher and was one of the founders of Yale College. The 



12 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

old Church records speak thus of him, " He lived much desired 
and died much lamented/'' In 1670 the inhabitants having de- 
cided to build a new meeting-house, met and looked over the 
ministry land (500 acres of which had been set apart by the 
town and 200 laid out aljout Agreement Hill for the support 
of the ministry). After several meetings they unanimously 
agreed upon a location for the new house, and then went back 
to the old meeting-house and voted, '' That the new meeting 
house shall for time to come, be set up and stand, without re- 
moving, upon Agreement Hill." At that time the hill was 
covered with heavy timber, which was removed by voluntary 
labor, and the house built by subscriptions of timber, planking, 
shino-les, nails and labor of men and teams. The meetinj^-house 
was raised Jan., lt')7o, and a church formally oi-ganized June 
3rd, 1(J74, witli only nine persons enrolled as members, viz., ]\Ir, 
James Noyes, who lived at Anguilla, Mr. Thomas Stanton and 
son, Thomas Jr., who lived at PaAvcatuck Rock, Mr. Nathaniel 
Chesebrough, lived opposite the Phelps place, INIr. Thomas 
^Nliner at (v)niambaug, Mr. Nehemiah Palmer lived with his 
father, Walter, at Wequetequock, Mr. Ephriam Miner, who lived 
north of Mr. Sanford Pillings" house, Mr. Moses Palmer, 
who lived on the east side of Wequetequock Cove, below the 
Road Society land, which house has been taken doAvn within 
the last thirty 3ears, and ]\Ir. Thomas Wheeler, who lived at 
Col. James F. Brown's in the old AVheeler house. It is not 
knoAvn when this church was tinished or dedicated, Init religious 
services were held in the summer of 1673 in this building, 
which stood a few rods west of the present meeting-house at the 
Road. It was built by Israel Smith, the cost of labor being 
£51. There is no plan of this building on record, except the 
dimensions, which were 10 ft. long, 22 ft. wide, and 14 ft. posts 
from joint to joint. There were no slips or pews, except for the 
deacons, magistrates and minister's family ; benches were used 
by the people, and a committee was appointed to seat them, 
according to their notions of propriety, but this did not last long, 



OLD HOMES IN STOXINGTON. 13 

as the next year the town voted " To have the tioor of the 
house and of the gallery assigned to the inhabitants for pews." 
The inside of the house was never lathed or plastered, or the out- 
side painted or adorned with a steeple. After the pews were 
1)uilt, the space between them and the gallery was ceiled. In 
those days, meeting-houses were built without stoves or fire-places 
and must have been uncomfortabh' cold in winter,but for the little 
foot-warmer of iron, with door to open, showing a pan in which 
liot coals were placed. This was carried to meeting and passed 
from one part of the slip to the other, to lessen in some degree 
the intense cold. In 1690 the town voted " To build near the 
church a small house, fourteen feet square, witli seven feet 
posts and fire-place for Mr. Noyes to warm himself in cold 
weather, between meetings," for then there was morning and 
afternoon service and many, besides the minister, remained over 
till afternoon. At this time, one can but imagine that many 
pleasant and cordial greetings were exchanged and matters 
that were not strictly religious were discussed. This early 
custom of expj-essing hearty interest in one another has lingered 
even to the present time, when after service a very babel of 
tongues is heard in the hall and a joyous laugh does not shock 
the ears of pastor or ])eople. The men gather in little groups 
between the church and sheds, while hearty hand shakes evince 
their good will towards each other. 

In 1717, the society had so extended and the population in- 
creased to such an extent, that the old meeting-house Avas too 
small to accommodate all the people, so they voted to divide the 
town into two societies (the east and west), but no definite 
action was taken till 1726, when a vote was carried to build a 
new meeting-house at the center of the town, oi' Putnanrs Cor- 
ners, sixty-one persons favoring that location, but many others 
preferring the old site at Agreement Hill, there arose heated 
discussions and each society commenced preparations for build- 
ing their new meeting-houses. The land on which the house 
at the Center stood was given bv Mr. Elihu Chesebrouirh, 



14 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

April 18th, 1728, and under date of Jan. ye 2nd, 1730, is a list 
^^hieh shows, "What particular men gave towards building 
this house." Capt. Thomas Noyes gave £60, Mrs. Noyes, 
his mother gave £20, Deacon Noyes, £50, Justice Palmer, 
£70, Deacon Palmer, £40, Capt. Palmer, £30, Mr. Joseph 
Miner, £50, Insign Breed, £20, Samuel Hinckley, £26, 
Stephen Richardson, £25, William Stanton, £35, William 
Bell, £10, Nathan Chesebrough, £40, and his mother, £10, 
Elihu Chesebrough, besides the land, £40, Lieut. Samuel 
Chesebrough, £35, Mrs. Grace Palmer, £70, John Denison, 
£20. Total — £589. This house at the Center was larger 
than the other. It was unpainted and had no steeple. There 
were three outside doors and two tiers of galleries, one above 
the other, and an immense sounding board above the speaker's 
head. The eight seats in front of the pulpit were each four feet 
long, forty-one pews were nearly square and those all around 
the sides were divided from the center ones by tlie alley Avhich 
was four feet wide. The main alley or aisle was five feet wide. This 
house was finished in 1740, and it was here that the famous 
George Whitefield preached the afternoon of July 16th, 1747, 
and so many })eople came to hear him that he left the house 
and spoke to them from a platform erected under the shade of 
a Jarge elm tree near the church, which is still standing, and the 
children of the Revolution have placed a placard upon it with 
this historic event inscribed thereon. This church remained here 
till 1786) wlien it was taken down and removed to Stoniugton 
Borough and rebuilt near the late residence of Mr. Horace N. 
Trumbull. It was then painted and called the White meeting- 
house. 

The new meeting-house, begun at the Road in 1729, was not 
finished for ten years. It stood a little farther to the south- 
west than the present one and faced the south. It was built of 
pine, white wood and cedar, was never painted and had no 
steeple. The inside was ceiled but never lathed or plastered ; 
the windows, two above and below, on the north and south 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 15 

sides, and three above and below, on the east and west sides, 
were small and had small panes of glass. There were three 
outside doors, the east and west ones were narrow, but the 
south door was doable and opened into the main body of the 
house, directly under tlie high pulpit which faced the north 
and was seven or eight feet from the floor, reached by ste})s 
leading up on either side, l^ike the Center Church, a large 
wooden sounding-board was suspended above tlie minister's 
head, so that his voice could be heard in all parts of the house. 
The two long seats just in front of the pulpit had backs and 
w^ere used by the magistrates and deacons. The body of the 
house liad six large, high, square pews, with uncushioned seats 
on three sides but none on the side facing the pulpit, and some- 
times high backed chairs were placed in them also. These pews 
opened without doors into the two broad aisles, which run the 
length of the building, and on either side of these were four 
pews of the same style, except that the two which adjoined the 
short aisle from the east and west entrances, had doors. In 
plain view of all in the house were the stairs on either side of 
the pulpit, leading up into the gallery, which extended around 
three sides, the choir occupying the north side, facing the min- 
iste.^', though sometimes they sat all around the gallery, the men 
on one side and the women on the other. 

In those days no music was heard except the "tuning fork or 
pitch pipe used by ^Ir. Zel)nlon Chesebrough to start the tunes, 
and the voices from all over the house, led by the choir, sang 
the words, which were lined off by the minister or leader. 
Usually two lines were read at a time and then sung, thus the 
melody was carried along. There were many sweet singers in 
that old church, some of whose names have been told to the 
children of the present generation. We see among the men. 
Uncle Zebbe Chesebrough, ]Mr. John Dean and Mr. fJesse Dean, 
while on the other side were Miss Debby Denison (the beauty 
of Quiambaug), Mar}- Palmer, Mary Stanton, Mr. Zebbe Chese- 
brough's daughter, with her heavv contralto voice, and that sweet 



16 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

singer Phannee Dean, who came with ber brother, Jesse, and a 
h\rge number of goodl}^ yo^^"g people from Dean's Mills, which 
was then the business center of the town. 

At this time few carriages were owned in town, so the people 
came to meeting on horseback, or on foot, and on a pleasant Sun- 
day morning many youug-nien and maidens could be seen walk- 
ing and carrying their best shoes, to put on just before arriving 
at the door, while the travel-stained ones were safely hid away 
behind some friendly rock or tree, to be })at on again after 
meeting, for the journey homeward. For al)out forty years these 
two societies acted wholly independent of each other, Mr. 
Ebenezer Rossiter having been the pastor at the time of the di- 
vision, continued to preach in the First or West Church in that 
society, and Rev. Nathaniel Eells became the pastor of the First 
or East Church in that society and so continued till Mr. Rossi- 
ter's death, when in a short time both societies called Mr. Eells 
to become their rainistei', so after a separation of thirty-four 
years, they were again re-united with Mr. Eells preaching alter 
nately for six uKniths in each meeting-house for several years. 

In 1782 the church on Agreement Hill having stood for about 
forty years, needed repairs and it was voted " that it be cov- 
ered, have new doors and windows, and a committee was ap- 
ponited to make the repairs, and if necessary to sell the East 
meeting-house to make repairs on tlie West one at Agreement 
Hill, but it was afterwards voted to repair it by subscri})tiou, 
so the old house was thoroughly renovated inside and out, 
under the supervision of Mr. Gilbert Fanning. As the town 
gave the land on which the church stood, it had the right to 
hold the King's Court and the Mao-istrate's Court in the meet 
ing-house from the time the first church was built till 1828,, 
when arrangements were made Avith the town authorities to 
build the basement of the present building for town purposes 
and the society' to build the meeting-house for religious pur- 
poses alone, which use has been faithfully adhered to, as the 
town meetings are yet held in the basement. Mr. Henry Smith 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTOX. 17 

took the contract to build and erected the present house, using 
some of the timbers and posts which were in the old church ; 
these can still be seen on the east and west sides of this build- 
ing. The Road Church is still the center of happy influences 
and many a son and daughter gone into other church homes 
ecalls with joy and pride, this dear old mother church, which 
has for her motto, " He who transplanteth still sustains." 

He who transplanted has sustained 

This Church through centuries, 
And saints, the' dead, yet speak to us, 

In holy memories. 

He who transplanted still sustains, 

LTpon Agreement Hill, 
His children, who are striving here 

To do his holy will. 

He who transplanted will sustain 

For ages yet to come, 
Till many a faithful one shall hear 

The plaudit of " Well Done." 



CHAPTER TWO. 

Wlio saitli, '" 1 am a fanner," doth jin>claini 
A nobU' lalling with an huniltlc nanic. 

Nearly all the early ]^)laiiters who came here spranii" from the 
better classes, and a large proportion of them from tlie landed 
gentry of iMiglaiid, and conld trace their descent I)aek\vard 
through a line of knights and gentlemen, and many had occupa- 
tions other than to till the soil, hut when they were once here, 
they soon learned from the necessity of the cabe to labor with 
their luuuls and cultivate their lands, for lal)orers were few, and 
as they had no money to procure car[)euters, l)lacksniiths, shoe- 
makers and weavers, it was plain that they must do this work 
themselves, so the very men, who were magistrates, governors 
and sous of governors, became stone-cutters, plied the 
shuttle or labored in the field, and were proud to do it, and Ston- 
ington was no exception, for almost their first legal act was 
to meet and lay out '- home lots " t)f 12 acres each for every in- 
habitant, about the site of their new meeting-house, extending 
as far east as Stoney Brook and south to Fellows Mill, now be- 
longing to Svlvia and Varyiis. One tier was located north and 
the remainder west and south of the ministry land. The title 
to these '• home lots " was obtained by lottery on condition 
that if built upon within six months and inhabited, the title 
would be complete, except that each one must reside on his hit 
two years before he could sell it, and tlien he nnist first oti'er it 
to the town and be refused before he could sell it, with good 
title, to any one. It is not known how many of these home lots 
were Iniilt upon, but even now tlie old family names are handed 

18 



OLD HOMES IN STOXINGTON. 



19 



down to the seventh and eight generations, and some of the old 
houses are standing yet which were built there about 1700. 

Only a few- years ago the old Tavern was taken down which 
stood across the road from the church. It was supposed to have 
been built about the middle of 1700 by Mr. Daniel Collins, 
and was a large, double, wood-colored house, with roof sloping 
nearly down to the ground at the rear, and two stories in front. 
Being built in this manner, they were exempt from taxation by 
the king, as all double two storv houses had a tax imposed u])on 




THE TAVERN HOUSE. 



them. At the west corner of this house, in plain view from the 
road, hung a swinging sign, ornamented by the tigure of an Indian 
and having the word Tavern thereon. As you entered the front 
door, the stairs to go al.)Ove and below were in })lain siglit. At 
the right was the great east ro()m, wliieh was the favorite resort 
for friends upon the Sabbath .day, before meeting begun, or when 
any gathering was held at the Road, to meet aiul visit with each 
other or discuss matters of interest. At the rear of the room, 
with a small bedroom at eitlier end, was the long kitchen, while 
in a large room ui)stairs, occasionally dances were lield. At the 



20 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

left of the front door, was a smaller room with a fire-jilaee in 
it and windows at the south and west sides, which was called 
the " Bar Room." On the north side of this room, was the 
connter running east and west, completely shutting- off the nar- 
row room where was kept the jugs of West India rum, sugar, 
tea and decanters of various kinds of liquors. A red-painted 
door, suspended from the ceiling, was lifted or closed at will 
by the person behind the counter, and it was supported by two 
lono-, narrow sticks, arranged to hold it in position. In those 
days even the minister and people regaled themselves and no 
one was considered hospitable, who did not offer to his guest 
some good rum, home made wine or cider. 

This Tavern was kept for jears by Lieut. Daniel Collins, 
who was in the Revolutionary War ; at another time by Mi-. 
Dean Qallup, again by a Mr. Rowse who was a tailor, and also 
by Mr. Gilbert Collins and Mr. Justin Denison. About 1835 
by Mr. Nathan S. Noyes, and even then travellers were kept 
over night and the bar was sustained. Later, Mr. Frank Pen- 
dleton kept it as a Tavern (whose descendants live in Pennsyl- 
vania). At the time of the September gale the roof was blown 
off into the garden, but being replaced it was afterwards occu- 
pied by many different families. Receiving no special care, it 
fell gradually into decay, and was at last used as a barn and tinally 
taken down by JNIr. Charles S. No3'es about 1892, as he had 
purchased the property some years before. 

About the '•'• Road,'" in those early times, were several stores, 
one at the west of the "Tavern " where various goods were kept 
for sale, and a little further to the east was another, while near 
the house of Mr. Thomas Palmer, was still another ; all of these 
were real old-fashioned country stores with a variety of every- 
thing one would need, as then the present villages which are 
about us were not in existence, and the people were largely 
supplied from these country stores, strange as it now seems. 

I here insert a letter from the pen of one of Stonington's in- 
habitants of a century ago, who lived at the farm now occupied 
by Dea. B. Frank Williams, near Mystic, Ct. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 21 

My Dear Julia, a letter fioiu yoiu- fathev informs me that you 
have fled from the heat, dust and turmoil of city life to make your 
Saratoga sojourn in the Stoney land of Stonington, and so there in 
that fairy region of rich men, })retty girls and early marriages, 
smooth fields, stone walls, and rural dwellings, brown bread, baked 
beans, whortleberries, fresh flsh and honey, you, for a time are lux- 
uriating, perhaj^s in the shade of some of those noble old Button- 
balls, Oaks and Chestnuts, the very trees under which I used to sit 
in days of yore, and build those airy castles of future happiness 
unalloyed, which in the rosy days of yoi;th, untaught by time's 
changeful hand, have in all ages, been wont to build, but which in 
no age will ever be fully realized. Stonington is indeed a happy 
land, the land of my birth, a pleasant land that I shall always love, 
and the idea of your being there has carried my thoughts back into 
the past, and brought vividly to mind the events of my early days, 
that it seems but yesterday that I was a wild, romping, schoolgirl, 
the very personification of mischief. Ah ! well do I remember my 
roguery everywhere, especially at school, and how my yjatient 
teachers bore with me during all those trying years, but looking all 
the while as if they deemed the task of teaching me a severe ordeal. 
I often think of the lessons of wisdom as well as the deep interest 
which some of them manifested for my welfare, and I feel an 
affectionate regard for these best of friends, one of whom. Judge 
Fish, I hope you have had the pleasure of seeing, while in Ston- 
ington. 

How much I wish I might have been there with you to point out 
the many points of interest, which 3'ou would pass by unheeded. 
Take, if you please, the road from your boarding place (now Mr. 
Eugene Palmer's) to the head of Mystic. Observe first the view 
either side from the top of the hill, at the head of the Point road. 
Then as you descend the hill, see those fancifully shaped rocks and 
stones of various shapes and sizes, some oval, some oblong, others 
triangular and pyramidal, often enclosed by a thickly set hedge of 
whortle-berry bushes laden with that delicious fruit, or the fragrant 
bayberry or tallow bush (for you must know that tallow grows on 
bushes in that prolific region), again you may seethe tall, prim- 
looking, sweet-scented, sweet fern, or maybe one of nature's most 
beautiful wild beauties, the little four leaved pink rose, so abundant 
in fairy laiuls. 

At the base of the hill see that rude old bridge over that little 
stream of clear Avater which lags so lazily along among its glisten- 
ing pebbles, then hiding itself away in the bushy lot beyond. Then 
there is the numerous stalked shaped barberry, clad in its own 
beautiful green, its long slender stems bending gracefully beneath^ 
the weight of their bright, crimson clusters, and then in groups 
hedges, or perhaps singly, see the feathery formed blackberry, s 



22 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

closely set with dark, curly, hard-surfaced leaves and profusion of 
tliimlile-sliaped berries, so sweet, so delicious, while ever and anon, 
the unaspiring dewberry, cree})S over dilapidated fences, tills up 
gaps in stone walls, trails around illshapen sharp stones, which 
ought not to be so near the wayside, thus trying to conceal the seem- 
ing negligence of man as well as the danger to which the careless 
rider is ever exposed. 

Then there used to be an old red house, where somebody lived, 
also a small brown house where a family lived whose children were 
so judiciously trained by a good mother to habits of industry, neat- 
ness, order and economy, that all the children married well, and 
were happily settled in life. Not far distant was a large, old-fash- 
ioned white house, shaded by some large old trees, and distinguished 
as the residence of a true-hearted widower, one who was said to 
have declined all overtures from the ladies to enter a second time 
into matrimony, a widowed daughter, a granddaugliter and two 
bachelor sons, the latter kept a store nearby (near the Tlromas 
Palmer house) where at all times might be found rum, raisins and 
ribbons, crockery, calico, codfish, silks, sarcenetts, sugars and 
shawls with the usual et ceteras. On each side are corn ]iatches, 
cow pastures interspersed with great rocks and stones, about which 
the wild morning glory has woven itself into beautiful net work, 
while here and there are various little arbors formed of cast-off 
brushwood and decayed bushes, overrun by the splendid ivy which 
by its brilliant green in summer and varying shades in autumn, 
ever adds so much beauty to the landscape. And yonder, in sullen 
dwarfishness, stand numerous shrub oaks peeping crabbishly down 
upon the sterile earth as if to reproach their miserly mother for 
their uncouth deformity. Then hither and thither are countless 
heaps of loose stones, placed either to commemorate the wealth and 
industry of the owner, or as proper and convenient abodes for rep- 
tiles. A little farther on is the line of decaying old poplars, stretch- 
ing their bare, stiff limbs heavenward with here and there little 
tufts of l)right, fresh leaves, which remind one of pleasant, youth- 
ful feelings in the hearts of aged friends, and over the wall are di- 
vers young ones growing rankly at random, their little supple limbs 
dancing in the slight breeze, and looking saucily up at their aged 
sires seeming to say, " Old gray beards, don't you wish you could 
get over here and trip the fantastic toe as we do ? " Then on the 
opposite side is a square, neat looking, little white house, fronted 
with a few handsome trees, some nicely trimmed shrubs and a care- 
fully trained woodbine, and occupied by several maiden ladies, all 
very tall, very prim, veiy good and if still living must be very old. 

Next is that celebrated Tavern, where all classes, ages and sexes 
used to stop on Sunday mornings to " fix " before entering church 
and these were novel scenes. This crazy old hostelry sets flat upon 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 23 

the north side of the road, stretching its hroad, sliingled sides 
towards the four points of the compass as far as its stiff old tim- 
bers would permit, looking for all the world as if trying to grasp 
as much of terra lirma as possible. Then the earth all around 
apparently striving to get uppermost (as dirt will sometimes) had 
climbed several inches up the decaying shingles, giving the house an 
appearance of sometime making a final exit into the cellar. At the 
front door lay a large, unwrougbt, flat stone of irregular shape, so 
deeply inverted into the earth as to bring its surface just even with 
it. This was the door stone, and from this we stepped into the 
house. Ten or twelve feet from the door and nearly in front, stood 
a horse block, composed of three huge stones with a rough post at 
each side ; here, the ladies mounted, dismounted and hung their 
horses. Just in range of this, and about the same distance from 
the door was the old family well, with its long sweep and pole, its 
backload of stone, its old, leaky, rusty-hooped bucket, its ancient 
brown board curb, skewed into a rhomboid and a long watering 
trough on one side. From this fountain, the horses and the people 
were watered. The west end of the house was ornamented with a 
long horse shed furnished with sundry pegs, nails, rings and hooks 
for hitching and a deep manger, which the hungry animals, for want 
of something more palatable to eat, had knawed into points, squares, 
scallops and parallelograms. The little space stretching out be- 
tween the house and the street was thickly dotted with rock heads, 
protruding just far enough to stub everybody's toes and to spoil 
everybody's shoes. 

The opposite side of the street was bounded by an apology for a 
wall, several very infirm old poplars and another horse block. In 
the rear of the house stood the usual out buildings, a barn, crib, 
shed, pig-sty and hen house. These were all in the very highest 
state of dilapidation. Every shingle seemed vibrating upon a 
headless nail, the boards all loose and askew, the doors ajar, 
warped and without fastenings, and so exceedingly sensitive had 
these old inanimates become that even the commonest little breeze 
would throw them into a regular fif of hysteria ; and there they 
Avould stand writhing, creaking and wheezing, groaning and moan- 
ing so piteously that one could not refrain from fancying them to be 
in the last agonies of decay. 

On one side of the barnyard always stood (on that sweet day of 
rest) the old black mare, a perfect Canadian in form, with un- 
cropped mane and tail, in which could be found every variety of 
shade from a dingy yellow, down to a rich black, and both profusely 
decorated with straws and burs ; poor, patient old creature, probably 
her chief ornaments had never been pro])erly dressed since she 
possessed them. Ah ! you cannot imagine how pensively resigned 
she used to look, wondering the while, I presume, why she could 



24 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

not be cared for, carded and combed and fixed up like other horses 
for Sunday. On the other side was the cross-looking yellow cow, 
with her ugly staring eyes, with one horn turned nearly straight up 
and the other about as straight downward, a strange object she was 
indeed. A certain wag once remarked " That old yellow cow was 
conveniently equipped because she could hook both heaven and 
earth out of her way with the same push." In the distance and 
about the area, grew numerous cragged diminutive trees and bushes, 
which in accordance with the Scriptural injunction, ought for their 
unfruitfulness to have been hewn down long before and cast into 
the fire. Around the fences, higgledy piggledy, lay carts and lad- 
ders, plows and wagons, poles and pails, minus parts and many a dis- 
torted limb, types of faithful service in their country's cause. About 
the sink drain and in the little savory pools issuing therefrom were 
various specimens of old boots and shoes, broken crockery, tin and 
glassware, horsehair, broomcorn and chips. 

East of the house was the garden containing rather a parsi- 
monious complement of vegetables, but a perfect feast of rocks, 
burdocks, pigweeds, grasses and nettles, and whatever else in that 
line the patron might choose to call for. On the sunniest side of 
this neglected spot, as it were, directly out of the wall had sprung 
up a thick hedge of cinnamon rose bushes, which despite the thous- 
and and one obstacles there presented, grew and flourished and blos- 
somed most vigorously. At one end of this most beautiful rose hedge, 
quite a liberal bit of terra firma was devoted to •' posies " which 
glittered and gleamed with many of the gayest and most beautiful 
hues ever seen in a country flower garden. Then at the least 
imaginable distance from this little nook and by way of making 
just the sweetest variety in the world, oxir very fanciful landlord 
had located his pigsty, occupied by three slab-sided, lop-eared, lan- 
tern-jawed, speckled pigs, possessing scarce more of avoirdupois 
than was absolutely necessary to retain their bones within their 
bristly coverings. The chief delight of these sweet creatures seemed 
to be fighting and squealing, at the same time looking so hungry 
that we could never divest ourselves of the apprehension that too 
near an approach might subject us to a deplorable fate. 

In passing from this scene of beauty, deformity and danger we 
always had a gratuitous peep into the buttery, before whose little, 
brown, latticed, uncurtained window, there ever and anon stood one 
great pan of milk, which seemed to be a kind of general bathing 
tub for all the bugs and flies in that neighborhood, and an affecting 
sight indeed it was to see these poor insects ; some like Cassius 
and Caesar the creamy Tiber buffeting with lusty sinews ; some with 
feeble effort and anxious eye, vainly striving to attain the shore ; 
others in agonizing despair sinking to rise no more, while others 
fast in the stocks had yielded up the ghost, and there lay solemnly 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 25 

and silently admonishing all otlier bugs and flies never to trespass 
upon their neighbor's niilkpans, but the charitable hostess used to 
say " That a few bugs and flies only made milk and cream the 
sweeter.' Now this accidental discovery in the flymongering de- 
partment was but the morning twilight of the neatness which dazzled 
the eyes of those who chose to make a more minute survey of the 
culinary proceedings in that selfsame Eoad-side Tavern. 

Here we are on the front side again and yonder across the way, 
unprotected from the gales of Heaven by tree, shrub or vine, stands 
the old Church upon that little eminence of perfect sterility ; within, 
without and around, all was an exact personiflcation of barrenness. 
The church then had no porch, but one great barny door opened 
directly into the one and only apartment. The pulpit of ancient 
date, the pews uncarpeted, unstooled, bookless and fanless were 
square and sufficiently large to accommodate some twelve or fifteen 
persons. Xo cushions were there, we sat softly upon the smooth 
side of pine boards. Two flights of stairs in the southeast and 
soiithwest corners served to transport the singers and other high- 
minded ones to the upper regions. The bannisters of these aerial 
passages were open, which was positively pleasing to the ladies es- 
pecially when they chanced to be late and were obliged to ascend in 
face of the audience. Not a particle of paint or varnish had ever 
dimmed the woody luster of this venerable edifice, internally or ex- 
ternally ; no, the neutral beauty of the original was there. In sum- 
mer a July or August sun would pour its sultry rays so unsparingly 
through those great, unblinded windows, that very little extension 
of the imagination was required to fancy ourselves in New Granada, 
for a dazzling glare seemed to come in at every window, and our 
boundary on the four sides one entire blaze, but in winter, we wei'S 
decidedly cool, and the few present in one sense collected, there was 
no fire or even conveniences for one, not a single ray of warmth, 
save the little emerging from the pale hues of a wintry sun, as they 
fitfully struggled through the bright frost work upon the Avindow 
panes. The door of the church being secured only by a latch, per- 
mitted the imblic to enter whenever they chose. The ground all 
about wore nearly the same aspect in summer as in winter, the grass 
brown, dry and crisp ; the few dwarf weeds and shrubs by the fence 
side looking as if the}' had been bitten by an early frost or had been 
recently visited by Pharaoh's locust legions ; scarcely a green thing 
could be seen, and yet it was not unusual on a Sunday morning to 
find a flock of sheep, in single solemn file making various perambula- 
tions about these sacred premises, but why they were there, no mortal 
could tell, unless perhaps as a kind of Botany Bay punishment for 
some act of disloyalty to their rightful sovereign. An amusing story 
used to be told about a truant wind blowing o])en the church door, 
and some sheep going in, and holding several nightly conferences. 



2f3 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



A few paces east of the church and in the same lot upon 
a ledge of rooks, there used to be and of course now is (the 
foundation being upon a rock) a schoolhouse, which in convenience 
and architecture was a genuine old settler, but it is, however, a 
memorable place to me for the first singing school I ever attended 
was in that house, and there too dawned the morning of my teaching 
career, A little way south stood Uncle Graves' Cottage, where 
some people called to " fix " Sunday mornings, before entering 
church instead of going to the Tavern. 

And with a few family matters this letter closes to be 
continued iu otlier letters, but they cannot now be foimd, much 




CHURCH PARLORS. 



to our regret, for the intention of the writer was to carry one 
to the village of JMystic, and doubtless much would have been 
learned of the old houses and their occupants, which now will 
ever remain a closed door. This letter is signed by Miss Grace 
Stanton, written in 1852 of the memories of her youth here, 
making this description nearly a hundred years old as she was 
born in 1800. 

The present church parlors, a little east of the church, was 
formerly a gambrel roof, half house, probably built by one of 



OLD HOMES IN STONIXGTOX. 27 

Rev. James Noyes' sons. It was ()ccu[)ie(l bv many diti'erent 
families, and many of them were Noyes, all descendents of our 
first minister, the Rev. James. About seventy-five years ago 
INIr. John D. Noyes sold it to Mr. Nathan Noyes, who married, 
the daughter of Edward Sparger of Newport. They had a 
large family of children and lived here and in several other 
houses near the church. 'Sir. Noyes was both witty and keen, 
and many humorous stories are accredited to him. Among 
them, that one day his minister. Rev. Ira Hart, Avhile walking 
through the woods going to the Dean's Mills, lost liis way, but 
happening to come upon ^Nlr. Noyes, who was chopping his fire- 
wood, Mr, Ilart enqnired of him, " If he could tell him where 
he was ? " to which ]Mr. Noyes facetiously I'eplied, " Yes, sir, 
you are on the north side of a white oak tree,"' which answer, 
we can imagine, provoked much merriment. After a time Mr. 
Noyes and wife moved to Mount Pleasant. Here, also, lived 
Aunt Hannah Graves, quiet and alone, the last of her family, 
and after her death, it was purchased by Miss Emma A. Smitli, 
Avho o;ave it to the 1st Conofreofational Societv, and bv liifts of 
money and articles from the many friends of the church and 
descendants of the old members, and by the sale of souvenir 
spoons, enough was raised to entirely remodel it inside and out, 
so it is now nsed for entertainments and social gatherings con- 
nected with the church. 

Just south of this house, a small house was built in Itim for 
Rev. James Noyes to warm himself, l)etween meetings : this was 
afterwards made into a school iiouse. East of this house, 
for a long time, stood a variety store where everything from 
good cloth to small wares was sold. This store faced the load 
and had its half door and laige show windows witli their small 
panes of glass. It was kept for a time l)y Mr. Nathan Wheeler, 
who lived for a while a few rods l)el()w, in the old wood-colored 
house now standing, with the date 1777 showing distinctly in 
the stone chimney, which is in plain sight from the road on the 
west side of the house, now owned and occupied by almost the 
last of the Pequot tribe. 



28 



OLD HOMKS IN STONINGTON. 



l^.-ist of \\ luMc tlu^ old Tiivt'iii stood is a house set within a 
])leiisiiii1 \;ird, niid shaded hy some fine ohl elms, which though 
added (o and rciioNuted several times was originally built about 
17;{0, liv Mr. Klias Habeoek, a lawyer, who after a time moved 
fo I'awcaluck and sold tlu' house to the ilobarts. The survivcjr 
of this family was Aunt I'anuy, who lived lor years alone in 
this house, except for a large eat wliieli usually sat contentedly 
juining in llie sunshine which slrcauie<l oxer the blight strij)ed 
carpel, which was on the (Kkw of liei' keeping room, having 




im 1 \KK.K IIOISK. 



lH>eu made by hei- own hands, and the tire on the hearth with 
Aunt l''anny sitting complacently iiefore it, in her hirge tigured 
gown, with a broatl rutUed cai^ on her head, was a picture of 
cheerful ctuuentmeut which once seen was not soon forgotten. 
She was a grand type of the New England w onian of a century 
ago, always a faithful attendant at church, where in her pew. 
near the pulpit, she could be plainly seen by all. and the size 
and shajie of her old style bonnet proved very impressive to the 
children, who were foml of her. and nearly every Sabbath 
atternoon. simuc of them visited her or remained over from 



OLD HOMES IX STONINGTON. 



29 



church services to attend the concert \\liii'h was hehl every 
month, on the Sunday evening nearest the full moon. Tliis 
place is now owned liy ^Nlr. Charles S. Noyes. and has been much 
improved by him. 

Following this road to the east hut a short distance, used to 
stand a house, hnilt in lTo<>. in \\hich Mr. Eiu)ch Stanton lived 
who mariied Waity Dyer. He was a silversmith and had his 
sho}) here, l>ut was killed at the massacre of Fort (iriswold.and 
on April Sth. 1 "So, his widow sent the following older toCapt. 




MK. CHAKLKS S. NOVKi HOLbE. 



William Latham, "Sir, please to send me by the bearer hereof, 
]\lr. Zebulon Stanton, the sum of Fifty pounds of my deceased 
husband (Lieut. Enoch Stanton's ) wages for his service in Fort 
Griswold and his receipt shall discharge you from the same." 
Sisfned AVait Stanton. Mrs. Stanton sold this house after a 
time, and it was taken down about 1800, and became the prop- 
erty of Elder Elihu Chesebrough, who rebuilt it east of the 
Borough of Stonington. 

Ah-. Amos (iallup also had his l)lacksmith shop just east of 
this house, when he began housekeeping at the Road, and a 



50 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



little recess on the north side, in the highway, marks the 
spot, while further up the road, nearly opposite the church, has 
been found debris from another old blacksmith shop, where at 
some earlier time horses were shod. 

But a short distance east of this Stanton ground, stands the 
house built about 1710 by Etlward Denison and his son John, 
whose first wife, Anna, was drowned in the well, which can 
now be seen b}" the roadside, southeast of the house as you are 
driving along the highway. This house is still in good order 




I'.ril NOYKS HOUSE. 



and bids fair to stand a hundred years longer, although now 
nearly two hundred years old. It is a large double house, fac- 
ing the south, the east side being broader than the west, which 
has only one window at the south, while on the right of tiie 
front door, the room is large and square witli two windows at 
the south. In this room, is the old fashioned corner cupboard, 
which was enclosed by a circular Ijar, one half of which 
was movable and allowed the bar tender to pass back and forth 
as he served his customers. The entire upper story on the 
west side was once a dancing hall, with a swinging partition 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 31 

in the middle which could 1)6 fastened up at will, and the hooks 
are still in the ceiling', although the partition has been made 
stationary. Mr. Denison sold this house and a small lot of land 
in 1760, to Col. Giles Russell of Wethersfield. He was a 
graduate of Yale College and a lawyer, being admitted to the 
bar in Hartford, Ct. Soon after he came to Stonington, he was 
ajipointed Captain of a company of fifty-five Conn, and R. I. 
men in the expedition against Havana under Admiral Pococke 
and Lord Albermarle, of whom only sixteen men reached home 
alive. He was married soon after his return, to Prudence Stan- 
ton, and when his law business increased, he built a lean-to on 
the east side of this house for an office, and afterwards increased 
it to its })resent size. In 1763 he was appointed Tavern Keeper 
there, and continued so till he entered the Army of the Ameri- 
can Revolution as Lieut. Col. in the 3rd Battalion, Wadsworth 
Brigade, which was raised in 1776 to reinforce Washington at 
New York. He was also in the French and Lidiau War, and 
died from eli'ects of service in 1779, and is buried in the Road 
Cemeter}", where the Society of the Children of the Revolution 
have placed a bronze marker at his grave. Col. Russell's house 
was afterwards bought by Mr. James Xo^es, whose son, Uncle 
John, used it as the Town and Probate Office, of which he was 
the Clerk, for forty-two years. At his death, the office was 
removed to the village of Stonington. Later this place became 
the property of Mr. Edmund S. Noyes, and is now occupied by 
his widow and son Joseph Noyes. 

Nearly opposite is a gate which leads down an old path to 
one of the oldest houses in town, owned by Dr. Jonathan Gray 
in 1720. He it was, whose services were required in the homes 
of our grandfathers, when blood letting and leeching w^ere the 
order of the day, and the family doctor was the personal friend 
and confidant of the household. It is still tenantablc, and is 
owned by one of his descendants, iSlr. Henry Clay Stanton, 
(^uite near to this Ikuisc was another called " the house on the 
Rocks ■" where iUind Jesse Dewev lived, who was the beneliciarv 



32 



OLD HOMES IN STOXINGTON. 



of all his friends and neigh l)()is, especiall}- during the winter 
season. At one time he was presented with a barrel of tiour, 
by a benevolent gentleman, Mr. Charles Phelps, and it was 
placed on a long table in his small room, where removing the 
head of the barrel, as it lay on its side, about one third of the 
flour came pushing out in great white drifts, which nearly cov- 
ered the table where Mother Dewey was mixing her biscuit 
ready for the Tin Baker which stood before the tire ; having 
a caller, she told him what one of her neighbors had said to her, 




DR. JONATHAN GRAY HOUSE. 

that Mr. Phelps had given it only for the name, when Uncle 
Jesse spoke up, saying, "I don't care if he did, it tastes just as 
good." 

A little northeast of Stoney Brook, where it crosses the road, 
stands the Thomas Palmer house, which was built in 1720, bv 
Rev. Ebenezer Rossiter, who had been given some eight or ten 
acres of land by Mr. Samuel Chesebrough, upon which he 
erected this house which is now standing, well protected by 
trees before the door and a tine avenue of "rock maples, leading 
up to the mansion which is a large two-story house with the • 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 33 

sloping roof at the rear ; few of this style of houses are now 
left standinof about here. It is Avell preserved, and as you 
stand upon the broad stone step before the front door, your eye 
rests upon the iron knocker, which has sent so many expectant 
thrills through the occupants of this house in the past one 
hundred and seventy years. The iron door handle is set in a 
spade shape of iron above and below, and lifting the latch will 
disclose to view a hall and fine old winding staircase, which 
carries vou l)v several turns to the third storv. The wainscot- 




THOMAS PALMER HOUSE. 



ino- in the west room, the summer beams and deep cornice 
bear evidence of the grandeur of this old house in days gone by. 
Mr. Rossiter, not being able to pay for this house, sold it back to 
Mr. Chesebrough, who in turn sold it to Mr. Thomas Palmer, 
v/hose son afterwards owned it, and it is still in the Palmer 
name. After ^h: Rossiter left here, he bought land of Mr. 
John Dean, about a quarter of a mile west of the church, and 
built another house, which he occupied, and after a time he 
erected a small schoolhouse nearby, where he fitted students 
for college, lie died herein 17*32. Later on, in this same house, 



34 



OLD HOMES IX STONINGTON. 



occurred a double wedding, when Nancy and Lois, only 
daughters of the young widow of Ethan Denison, married 
Nathan Noyes and Joseph Griswold one beautiful Sunday 
morning, and began their wedded life, one in Stonington and 
the other in Coleraine, Mass. These four lived many happy 
years, and with their children and grandchildren celebrated 
their golden wedding, but not being able physically to join each 
other on that day, messages of affection and congratulation Avere 
exchano-ed bv electricity. This house from which they were 




married was taken down about ISoO, and another stands on its 
site, now occupied l)y Mr. Jesse D. Noyes. 

Rev. Ebeuezer Rossiter's daughter, Hannah, married Mr. John 
Hilliard, who owned the land and also a house a short distance 
south of the church where Mr. Frank Noyes resided for a time, 
and where now his sou, Mr. Frank Noyes, makes his summer 
home. Mr. and Mrs. Hilliard had no children, and after his 
wife's death he married Ann Potter, who survived him and 
married, second, Lieut. Daniel Collins, the keeper of the Tavern 
near here for a long time. This Mr. Hilliard eave the land for 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 35 ■ 

the Road Cemetery, which has recently been beautified by the 
erection of a family mausoleum for 'Sir. Gilbert Collins, o-reat 
grandson of this Lieut. Daniel Collins. 

Another of ]\[r. Rossiter's daughters, ]\Iary, married Thomas 
Palmer, and began housekeeping a short distance below her 
sister, Hannah, in a house built long before the Revolution by 
himself, where he carried his bride, who only lived a few short 
years. This wood-colored house with its old stone chimney, 
showing on the outside the entire length, as you come up the 
liill from the west, is still standing in a fair state of preserva- 
tion and owned by the Palmer family. It is now known as 
Cato's house, having been occupied by one of ]\lr. Palmer's 
slaves, who was also a negro soldier of the Revolutionary war. 
He and his wife Floi-a occupied this house till their death. The 
story is told of Cato that when he was married. Rev. Mr. Hart 
was called in to perfoini the ceremony, and after its conclusion, 
and refreshments had been served, Cato said to the minister, 
" ]\Ir. Hart, I want to see you round behind this door a minute ? " 
Following him, Mr. Hart said, ''What do you want, Cato?" 
'' AVhy I want to know how much you are going to ax me for 
this job ? ■' " Ch ! "' said Mr. Hart, "I guess about a dollar." 
" Cheap enough, Marsa Hart," Cato replied, "111 give _youall my 
custom." 

On the other side of the road is the Mint house, fast going 
to ruin. Here was where Rose lived alone with her little 
daughter. She was a negro woman for whom the church cared, 
and here her friends for miles around met at stated times and 
had a quilting for her benefit. These were merry occasions, 
and an outdoor picnic supper was served under the trees, as the 
house was far too small to even admit the quilting frames, hav- 
ing only one small room above and below. It was sui)posed to have 
been built by Mr. Noyes Palmer some time in the latter part 
of 1700 — as Mint, or Mintus, Palmer was one of his slaves. 

Within a short distance south of here, were seveial old houses. 
The first at the right was where Robert Milley lived, who was 



3Q 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



a good musiciau and played the violin for the country dances. 
During the summer season he was a vender of wild fruits and 
berries. At the left was the old house, which Benjamin Searle 
owned and sold to Katherine Angier ( tailoress) in 1743, and she 
sold it later to Symonds Whipple, while below here a few rods, 
the old, low, gambrel roof Hancox house stood close to the road. 
A short distacce to the north, where the road curves 
abruptly from the west, stands the Edward Hallam house built 
by the great-great-grandson of the first John Hallam, in the 



( 




■-.-..jiwr iv;iii I « 



i%i^'* 







DUKLEV KKOWN HOl'SE. 



early part of 1700 as a half, one stor}', low house, but it has 
been added to and improved, making it now seem comparatively 
modern. Here, later, Mr. James Norman, an Englishman, lived, 
and he was the first one to play the " bass-viol " in the Road Meet- 
ing-house. This place afterwards belonged to many different 
people, and is now owned by ^Ir. Dudley Brown. 

Just a little west of the church stands the Woodbridge house, 
a low story-and-a-half edifice, with the front roof built gambrel 
and slanting in the rear, with little dormer windows which 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



37 



have been built in recently. The house is snngly ensconced 
amid surrounding trees in an old style garden, where still 
abound the old-fashioned flowers so dear to the heart of every 
child of nature. As it stands upon a corner, in four directions 
can be seen the passers-by, and many a merry tale is told of the 
various families who have lived under this old rooftree. This 
house was built by ^Ir. Joseph Page, early in 1700. He was 
l)orn in Watertown, Mass., in 1679, and came to Stonington 
and married the daughter of Capt. Joseph Saxton, who lived 




WOODBRIDGE HOUSE. 



west of Anguilla Brook nearl}^ opposite the new quarry, 
Avhich was opened a few years ago. The site of this house is 
still found by an old double-faced wall on the south side of the 
road. Capt. Saxton kept an Ordinary or Tavern here, which 
was considered I)y travellers better than any other for miles 
along the road. 

In 177(3, Mr. William Woodbridge came to live at the Page 
house. He was son of Dr. Dudley Woodbridge, and was con- 
sidered a great man of his day. He married Zerviah Williams, 
and having no children of his own he left by will iu 1825 a 



38 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

thousand dollars to the Roivd Church and society, if they would 
raise another thousand, wliich they did. His wife's will was 
made famous by being written l)y the noted Aaron Burr. After 
Mr. Woodbridge's deatli this place became the property of Mr. 
Thomas Noyes, and is now owned by Mr. James A. Lord. 

Opposite the Woodbridge place, is a deep cayity, which 
marks the spot of an old, old house once occupied by Mr. Eleazer 
Wheeler and family, and just across and east of this, in the 
Society lot, a house formerly stood, where now can be seen a 
large clump of lilacs, some stones and a slight depression in the 
earth. Here Mr. Francis Noyes Ayas born, when his parents 
liyed in this house. It being situated so near the church, it 
proved very convenient when the spring house-cleaning time 
came, and the church received its share of attention ; water was 
heated here, and all needful utensils were found to carry on 
this work. Not far from here, but a little east of Mr. Lord's 
house, was at one time a large l)uilding, which was used as a 
store house, but it has been taken down within the last century 
and carried to Stonington Borough. 

Now journeying up the road Ave turn at the corner and 
})ass under an arch of drooping elm trees, past the old place of 
Rev. Mr. Rossiter's, where now another house stands, and on un- 
til we come to the Dea. Jo. Denison house, standing upon a 
little eminence. It is a broad, double house, with the chimney 
in the middle, but no rooms in the rear, except in the three 
ells. This house was built in 17-)(), during the life of Mr. 
Denison's first wife, who was instrumental in decorating the 
large west keeping-room with the beautiful entablature which 
is found there now ; also tlie panel work over the fire-})lace and 
the deep cupboards with their glass doors can be seen. Mrs. 
Denison was Mrs. Content (Hewitt) Russell, widow of the first 
ordained minister at North Stonington. This house is peculiar 
in many respects, having been added to and formerly used by 
two families. The dark passageways and six garrets, full of 
old time clothing, letters, and all tilings dear to the heart of 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



39 



childhood, makes it au ideal playroom, and so it has been used 
by the little children who for years have been in this family. 
Two of the four outside doors open directly into the garden, 
Avhere are found little beds of old-fashioned flowers, phlox, 
nasturtiums, pansies, poppies, tulips, climbing roses and trailing 
vines, once tended by loving hands. The old porcli at the back 
of the house draped with trailing grape vines remains the same ; 
the bench upon which to dry the milk pans ; the gnarled and 




MOSS HOMESTEAD. 



knotted dry branch tirndy ind)edded in the ground, wliere the 
milk i)ails were hung to dry and air; the baskets and pails 
which in the autumn were heaped with fruit ; the grindstone 
and little three-legged stool; the half slat door i)ut in to keep 
the babies from falling out on the hard stone stei)s, all make 
the picture complete. On the north side in the upper story is 
the arched window with small panes of glass, almost an 
oriel window, set between two portions of the house, which 



40 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



project upon either side. All these remain to the present day 
to testify of other lives and former happy days. Mr. Zel)be 
Chesebrough and family lived here when he was chorister^at 
the Road Church. Afterwards Dea. Denison's grandson, Amos, 
lived here with his family, and his daughter, Caroline, married 
Mr. William C. INIoss. This family were here for years, and 
still own it though many of them are now residents of West- 
ern States. 

Just north, on a little hill, stands a large, double white house. 







PKLEc; DEMSON HOUSE. 




with cherry trees before the door, which was built by Dea. Jo. 
Denison's son, Peleg, in 1775. He married Dr. Jonathan Gray's 
daughter, Mary. It was afterwards owned by Mr. Sylvester 
Wallvvorth, and later on by Mr. George W. Noyes, who rented 
it for years to ]Mr. Uriah Harvey, and it is now owned by that 
family. 

A little further up the hill, apart from the road, stands the 
ancient Gallup house built about 1700 by Symonds AVhipple's 
sou, AVilliam, who married Mary Gallup. Mr. Symonds him- 
self lived a little north of the David Stanton house. The Whip- 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



41 



pies came from Ipswich, Mass., and S^'monds' father Avas Cy- 
prian, who married D(n-othy Symonds, daughter of Samuel, who 
at one time was Deputy Governor to the Colony. This two 
story half house is quaint in style with the north side of the 
roof sloping to the very windows of the first floor. The little 
leauto was attached, and until very recently it has preserved its 
original appearance in all respects. Amos Gallup l)uilt the 
blacksmith shop, which used to stand just below the hill at the 
west, and the storv has been handed down to the present gen- 




THE GALLUP HOUSE. 



eration, of the great snow storm on Dec. 25th, 1811, when not 
being aljle to get a horse to the shop, because of the banks and 
huge drifts of snow, he was taken into the kitchen, and his shoes 
were fitted I;)y the great fire on the hearth. 

The Gallups were noted as good story tellers and very fond 
of a joke ; the later generation who occupied this house are re- 
membered 3'et ; two brothers and two sisters lived here in liar- 
mon}' for nearly a centuiy; one sat in darkness for many years, 
but with true spiritual vision she lived her life in the light of 
God. When her young friends came to see her whicli they 



42 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



always delighted to do, she would rise carefully from her chair, 
where she always sat uear her bureau, and reaching up her 
beautiful hand, would place it tenderly, first upon their shoulder, 
and then up to the crown of their head, exclaiming, "Why, 
how much 3'ou have grown I " Her father was great grandson 




THE COPP PLACE. 

of Capt. John Gallup, and her mother was Weal thian Dean, who 
lived at the Dean Mills. This family has gone, and only mem- 
ories are left about this place, which has now passed out of the 
name and belongs to j\Ir. Leander Park. 

At a little distance from this house, runs the Copp brook, 
the very name of which will suggest to many the dewy, spring 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 43 

morning, when with fishing rod in hand, they have set forth 
intent upon the pleasure of trying for those golden-flecked beau- 
ties, which are known to be always found here. The intricate 
windings of the brook, in and out, bring you at length to the 
public road, where set back a little from the gaze of the travel- 
ler, stands the Copp Mansion, built by Jonathan Copp before 
1720. This house, like a very few now left in town, is two 
stories in front and one in the rear, with the roof slanting to 
the windows of the lower story and the little leanto Iniilt at the 
back, which used to serve as wash and sink room, and was 
useful in many ways. The rooms show the summer beams and 
panellings, which in olden times was considered of importance 
in building a fine house. The large dooryard with its white 
fence, encloses at one side a massive pile of rocks, over wliich 
a large butternut tree spreads its broad branches. 

]Mr. Jonathan Copp's sou, Jonathan, graduated at Yale Col- 
lege, and married Esther, widow of John Seabur3% and is spoken 
of as the Grammar Schoolmaster. Samuel was deacon of tlie 
Road Church for fourteen years, and his son, Samuel, thougli 
never a deacon, was yet a conspicuous meml)er of this same 
cluirch. Uncle Sam, as he was familiarly called, was usuall}* 
present every Sabbath day, and always stood during the long 
prayer, which was just before the sermon; dressed in his long 
light coat buttoned straight up and with a very high white col- 
lar and black stock, he was a striking figure, and was stealthily 
watched by all the children in the congregation, during this 
time. He was a quick-witted man and fond of poetry, writing 
acrostics and lines upon various occasions. He was mariied 
three times, and the following is his own composition, and very 
well expresses his views : " I married first for love and second 
for her purse, the third for a warming-pan, doctor and nurse," 
which was considered by his neighbors quite true. Uncle Sam 
had a brother, John Brown Copp, who was deaf and dumb ; he 
learned the stone mason's trade, but having an artist's mind 
and eye, he used to make large pictures in pen and ink. Photo- 



44 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



graphs and maps are still in possession of his relatives, show- 
ing his artistic nature. He also drew patterns for white bed 
spreads or connterpanes, as they were then called, for the yonng 
ladies of the neighborhood, who must own one of these among 
their marriage portion. They were made of cotton or linen 
homespun cloth, and embroidered in design with Avhite cotton^ 
called " Tufted work f the date and name of the maker was 
also worked upon them. One or more of these can now usually 
be found among the treasured possessions of almost every old 




THE HOME OF THE STANTOX BROTHERS. 

family in town. :\Iany are the beautiful garnients, dainty 
white satin slippers, gold beads, embroidered bags and old style 
bonnets and shawls, which have been handed down in this 
family as heirlooms for many generations and treasured care- 
fully, till now they rest in the Smithsonian Institution at Wash- 
ington. In this Copp homestead, social family life was fully 
enjoyed, for, gathered under this old rooftree, wit, beauty and 
culture united to form nature's noble men and women. 

A mile or so southwest of the Copp place, stands a gate 
which leads to one of the houses of the late Stanton brothers. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 45 

It is well preserved, though built long before the Kevolution, 
and owned in 1790 by William Denison, great grandson of Capt. 
George ; he afterwards sold it, and went with his family to 
Ohio, where his descendants have become men of note and 
business ability. His son, William, was a very wealthy farmer; 
he endowed the Denison University at Granville, Ohio, and 
gave $30,000 for other educational purposes. He had fifteen 
hundred acres of fine farming land at Salem, Ohio. When Mr. 
Denison left Stonington, he sold this place to a Mr. Morey, Avho 
again sold it to ]Mr. Frank Stanton, avIio with his sons have 
made these places the center of business life, as each of 
the brothers had his special line of work. In this large 
family of five sons and four daughters, we can but know that 
a great part of the pleasure of the nearby society Avould center 
about them ; man}' a sleighing party and dance was quickly 
gotten u]D, and a regular good time enjoyed at a neighbor's of an 
evening, while a good-sized party could be easily given with 
one or two families, the size of this, meeting together. Chief 
among the merry makers was Aunt Maria, whose very presence 
seemed to fill the house with good cheer, and if she was only 
there, everything was complete, for she was a host in herself 
and one to be relied upon at any time, either in joy or sorrow, 
and many Avere the homes gladdened by her voice at such times, 
and sweet is the remembrance of her whole life. 



CHAPTER THIRD. 

I see it all like a chart luinilled, 
Fcir my tli<»ugiit.s are full of the jiast and old. 
I hear the tales of my boyhood told, 
And the shadows and shapes of early days 
Flit dimly by in the veiling haze. 

— WhlWcy. 

The path from the Stanton house to the Dean's pond is a 
most romantic, winding road. This has .been an historic place 
in tlie town's history. The old house at^Dean Mills was built 
by James Dean Jr., in 1700, and it was burned down in 1848. 
Mr. James Dean Sr., lived at Quiambaug, just east of the 
(Quarry ledges. Very near this second Dean house was an im- 
mense rock, which still stands a silent and immovable remind- 
er of bygone days. James Dean was a blacksmith and had also 
learned the trade of fulling and dressing woolen cloth. He 
built a dam and fulling mill on Mistuxet brook and he and his 
son, John Dean, built another which was enlarged in 1807 in- 
to a factory building, with grist mill and new machinery for 
cloth dressing, wool carding and for the manufacture of cotton 
and woolen goods, by Mr. John Dean and son, James. Here 
was where many young men of the first families were employed, 
and every Sabbath morning they could be seen on their way, 
walking to meeting at the Road. 

The Dean pond, woods and the old Lovers' Lane, are now 
again made prominent features in our town. The pond is the 
head of the Mystic A^alley Water Co., from whence the villages 
are supplied with water. The woods furnish a most picturesque 
picnic ground, which has been provided with tables, chairs, 
seats, and everything for a summer day's delightful outing. 

40 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



47 




48 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

The Lovers' Lane is a most charming drive, which has been 
again opened to the public during this last year, through the 
agency of Mr. Burrows Spaulding. This road begins at the 
bridge, and passes the spring where a cool, refreshing draught 
can be had from its clear depths. It received its name from 
the fact that during the time when these young men were em- 
jjloyed at the factory there, one of them, a young Englishman, 
was much pleased with one of the young ladies of the Dean 
family and they often wandered through this lovely bridle path, 
where amid nature's environments, they could converse of things 
dear to the heart of youtli, but the family of this young girl 
were not pleased with his attentions, and so this place was more 
stealthily frequented by these lovers, whose future was fated to 
hold only a sad memory of those never to be forgotten days of 
love and joy. They were often met at the edge of the even- 
ing on this romantic path, so the name of "Lovers' Lane" has 
■ever clung to the spot. 

From many reminiscences culled from letters written to my 
father by ^fr. James D. Fisli, I quote: "So many fond associations 
cluster about the Old Place, as we were wont to call it, that I am 
at a loss to assign to each its order and time. The main body of 
the old Dean Mills house was built in 1700, the north-western 
part was doubtless built later, and the floor was at least a foot 
and a half up, so as to have it higher alcove the ground, to keep it 
dry, making it two steps above the kitchen, and two steps down 
on the south side to enter the parlor. The front porch was two 
stories high, the upper part was a sleeping room, and occupied 
by many a boy during his visit or labor at the mill. jVh-. 
Charles Grinnell was put there to sleej), when he went there to 
live Oct. 27th, 1827, and continued to occupy it during his 
«tay. Clustering around this house, were many other build- 
ings and objects of interest in those early days : the barn, well, 
liorse-block, old wash rock (which can yet be seen), the crib, 
also the shop, factory, cider mill and bleach house. On the 
west side of the house was the hitching post, for horses that 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTOX. 49 

came with grists for the mill. That post had its foundation, 
through an ohl mill-stone, which had been worn too much for 
its former use, but which now prevented the horses from paw- 
ing the ground and pulling down the post. 

The PineTree standing near the large rock has an interestiuij 
history. It was brought from the state of Maine in 1828, in the 
sloop ^Montgomery, l^ncle Jerry Holmes, Captain. He had just 
arrived from his annual voyage in the spring, to that state. The 
sloop was lying at Judge Asa Fish's wharf : Uncle Jesse Dean 
was at Mystic with the old grey mare and green wagon. It 
was very nearly night when Uncle Jerry said to his son, Isaac, 
who was then only a l)oy, "Isaac, go on board the sloop and 
get a little pine tree (which he described to him) and put it in 
the back part of Mr. Dean's wagon," which order was prompt- 
ly carried out. In a few moments Uncle Jesse Avas off for the 
old homestead, and I went with him, as I often did to make a 
visit. It was evening when we got there, and the following 
morning, after a conference between Grandfather and Uncle 
Jesse, they decided where it should be placed, in that little 
peach orchard as it was generally called. Along the south wall 
of that lot, dividing it from the barn yard, were some good- 
sized peach trees, which bore a large supply of excellent fruit, 
also many ])ear trees, and near the center of that lot was the 
largest lilac bush I ever saw, a protection for hens and turkeys 
that gathered there for a safe and secluded roost. Close to the 
wall, on the south side of the lane that led to the well was a 
row of pear trees, under which stood Aunt Fanny's cheese-press, 
which was always kept in use during the productive season. 
In this press, sage and other good cheese was made and pressed 
and then put upon strong shelves in the large, dark buttery, 
where it was cured, prepared and sent to market in New York 
and Philadelphia. This was ])efore the western cheese was 
sent to market, which superceded the Connecticut product. 

I remember walking with my grandfather James Dean on 
many occasions, and particularly once in the garden, where 



50 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

grew the rare-ripe peaches aud his knoekiug off for me some of 
the choicest fruit with his stout oaken cane. Aunt Fanny and 
Uncle Jesse Avere always kind to me : the former was renowned 
as being an excellent housekeeper, skilful with her needle in 
embroidery and she Avrought many samplers in tine silk work, 
"she also laid lier hands to the spindle aud her hands held tlie 
distaff." Her cooking was higldy appreciated by all ; I well 
remember the stores of pies aud cookies laid up in the Captain 
John Black sea-chest which was never locked, but free to all, 
children and adults, to help themselves, ad libitum. Capt. 
Black, the first husband of Martha Haley (my great-grandmoth- 
er), probably died in the West Indies, but his grand old chest 
now occupies an honored place in memory. Uncle Jesse often 
took me with him on his walks and raml)les : in the spring he 
made for me, whistles from the young aud succulent shoots of 
the chestnut tree, and on the crisp October mornings he climbed 
their ruo-ged branches and shook down for me, the burstmo^ 
burs. There was almost everything to amuse and interest a 
boy at the Dean Place, the wide flowing pond, affording sport 
for youthful fishermen in the sunnuer, and its frozen, glassy 
surface in the winter, yielded great eujoynient for the sliders 
and skaters. The noisy factory, where was making satinetts 
aud fencing rolls, in which I sometimes took a part, the many 
hands rollicking and full of life, the busy grist-mill, Elijah 
Brown the miller, the troop of horses and their riders, await- 
ing their grists, the number of persons continually coming to 
and going from the house, all took up oue's attention and left 
no time for homesickness. 

Then there came to the factory, periodically, to remain two or 
three weeks, a corpulent, round and jolly little man. Uncle 
Johnny Braman from Groton, to make the new shoes and to 
repair the old ones, belonging to the family and apprentices. 
He was indeed an amusing and entertaining personalit}' ; his 
shoemaker's Ijench was between two desks, one of which Grand- 
father Dean was accustomed to occupy, and where Uncle Jesse 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 61 

wrote at the other. They were attentive listeners to Uncle 
Johnny's stories which were repeated and many times retold, 
which of course interfered much with his work, but his listen- 
ers were no doubt well satisfied. Mr. Mix also put in his ap- 
pearance about as often, as tailor, to make and repair garments 
for all hands. 

Much of my time when a boy was spent at this home, when 
Dudley Lary, Robert jNI. Haveu, Alonzo Leeds, the Scholfields, 
Elias Gallup and Peter Johnson as boys were living there. 

Uncle JesseDean was for many years Town Clerk of Stoning- 
ton and kept his official documents and books in the southwest 
room or parlor, and many persons came thither for transacting 
public business. I'ncle Jesse w^as greatly interested in the suc- 
cess of Democratic principles and was frequently in conference 
with prominent men and leaders of that party, w^ho came tliere 
to talk over and caucus Town, District and County afiairs- 
My grandfather and Aunt Fanny were also decided in the 
Democratic faith, and their ideal of human and political per- 
fection, materialized in the old hero of New Orleans, General 
Andrew Jackson. Aunt Fanny's benevolences were not con- 
fined, however, to the members of her own church and party, 
for not one of all who came to her door asking for bread, ever 
went away refused. "She stretched out her hand to the poor, 
she reached forth her hands to the needy." As the Deans were 
good singers, we enjoyed many a long, winter's evening, as we 
sat around the roaring fire-place, hearing the songs and grand 
old tunes of those days. Mr. Zebbe Chesebrough lived near and 
he and his daughter would come in, for she and Uncle John were 
very good friends and sang much together, he taking the air 
and she the bass, probably having what we would now call a 
contralto voice. They sang, and danced the Shakesperian song 
of " Greensleeves " or " Christmas comes but once ayear "; this 
is a very old tune, dating back to 1580, but the original words 
are lost and the author forgotten. I have the old mahogany 
pitch pipe very nicely made, and with .1. 1). handsomely inlaid. 



62 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

used about 1792, by Uncle Jabez and Uncle Jesse who taught 
school in Virginia at that time, and Uncle Jabez died at the 
house of Mr. Wra. Davis, near Saffony church in Dinwiddle 
Co., Sept. 20th, 1795. 

I copy from my father's diary (Hon. Asa Fish), Sunday April 
5th, 1812, an account of his visit at Mr. Dean's: "About ten 
o'clock, crossed the river, stopped at Mr. Grant's, enquired the 
most direct way to Mr. Dean's, stopped again at Mr. Nat 
Wheeler's, and again enquired ; called at Mr. Dean's, found 
Mr. Jesse at home, being ill of the cholic; his youngest daughter, 
being about five years old, was in Ijed and surrounded by the 
family as she had been unfortunatel}' kicked a few days before 
by Mr. Chesebrough's horse, but is apparently recovering. 
Being rather late for meeting, I abandoned my intention of 
hearing Rev. JNIr. Hart today, and concluded to stay at i\Ir. 
Dean's till afternoon, at three o'clock, and then go to hear the 
singers perform, according to appointment. Went at the time 
to the meeting-house, where was the singing school, accompanied 
b}^ Elisha Williams, Denison Williams, Dean Gallup and ^Ir. 
Jesse Dean. On our way back, we called at ]Mr. Ethan Deni- 
son's, and saw Esquire IVIiner for the first time, and viewed 
Mr. Dean's building for the purpose of carding, picking, roi)ing 
and spinning woolen. In the evening, sang with the l)ass viol, 
Dean Gallup playing. INIonday morning, April 6th, dark and 
wet, stayed at ]Mr. Dean's till noon, just before which time, Mr. 
Zebl)e Chesebrough called in, and after we sang a few tunes, I 
came home in a devious and trackless path, and now the weather 
clears u})." 

At this old place in those days was an abundance of all kinds 
of berries ; wild grapes and nuts grew in the meadows, pastures 
and woods. Peaches, pears and apples of the best varieties 
loaded the trees in their season; well do I remember where 
stood the trees of Spicings, Denison reddings. Greenings and 
Sugar pears, with which, Bartlett pears as compared with them 
are stale and flat. Then what a festival AAas Thanksgiving ; on 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 53 

the long tal)le in the east room was spread the am[)le feast, con- 
sisting of roasted turkeys, boiled hams, chicken pies, fresh beef 
and pork roasted, jellies and preserves of many kinds and pickles 
of every description, and the dessert of pumpkin, mince, and 
apple pies followed in due season. There was an oUl custom, 
then prevailing in New England, of doing all tlie cooking pos- 
sible on Saturday, and the great oven was heated hot, and there 
the capacious pot of pork and beans, the great loaf of rye and 
Indian, and many other good things were stowed away in its 
immense cavity, the iron door was shut and the slow but 
thorough baking uninterruptedly proceeded, till all was evenly 
done. All work being over, at about sundown, we sat down 
for a quiet and restfal Saturday evening. That family and 
almost all the factory workmen attended the Road Church on 
the Sabbath, and listened to the teaching of the Rev. Ira Hart, 
the gifted and beloved pastor, who was also a most welcome 
visitor at the Dean house." Now this property is divided and 
the ^Mystic Valley Water Co. owns the pond, and ]\fr. Eugene 
Palmer owns where the present picnic grounds and spring are 
situated ; west of the bridge belongs to the heirs of the Stanton 
brothers and east of the road to descendants of Mr. James Dean. 
The road from the Dean Pond to the ^lystic highway is wind- 
ing, up hill and down, till we come to Uncle Alec Palmer's 
old wood-colored, story and a half house standing under its 
canop}' of shade trees. It was built in 1740 l)y Elisha Gallup, 
and in 17(30 was occupied by Mr. Phineas Stanton, the defen- 
dant in the famous Leather Breeches lawsuit, the story of Avhich 
is, that Dr. Joshua Babcock's son, Adam, carried on a shipping 
trade with the West Indies and other foreign ports. Iknng 
about to send a brig to these islands, and thence to the Bay of 
Honduras, and l)eing in want of sailors, he wrote to Phineas 
Stanton, Jr., of whom he had heard, and engaged him as mate 
for the voyage. The vessel arrived at St. Croix, where ^Ir. 
Stanton wished to land, and so he asked ]\Ir. Babcock for a 
portion of his wages, but Mr. Babcock, not having the money, 



54 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



became very angry, and a quarrel began which lasted during 
their liyes and cost them thousands of dollars. On landing at 
New Haven, Stanton had difficulty in settling with Babcock, 
and claimed to have been cheated out of =£201 ; still he supposed 
it was finished for good and all. But he had no sooner reached 
liis home in Stoningtou, than Capt. Simon Rhodes, who was 
then sheritf, arrested him for embezzling a pair of leather 




Al.EC PALMER HOUSE. 

breeches, a glass mustard pot, a bottle of gunpowder and a 
quantity of old iron ; still he said he would settle it, if Stanton 
Avould pay the small sum of twenty shillings, but to do this 
would acknowledge himself a thief, and rather than be so dis- 
graced, young Stanton's father joined his son in the fight. 
After the first trial, the verdict declared Stanton not guilty, 
and Stanton sued Babcock for defamation of character, and so 
the trial went on, first deciding in favor and then against, for 
four years. In the course of the trials it came out that Stanton 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 55 

had bought some })ieces of firewood of Babcock, and the old 
iron was the nails which remained in the ashes. In regard to 
the old mustard pot, it was proved to have been taken from 
Babcock's house to his brig, for Ins men, on Ins table, and was 
left there when Stanton left the brig, so that charge was with- 
drawn, and now the bill was reduced to the one pair of leather 
breeches, worth in the first place about sixteen shillings, but 
being very dirty and needing washing (which cost three shil- 
lings) it reduced their value to thirteen shillings. A special 
session of the Superior Court was held for this trial, the first 
result of which was in Stanton's favor, the second in Babcock's, 
and the final one in Stanton's. Every effort was made on both 
sides to get able witnesses from New York, Philadelphia, New 
Jersey, St. Croix, Norwich and New London. Leather breeches 
were brought and inspected, and even the minute stitches were 
compared and everything that could be thought of in connection 
with leather breeches was discussed. The most eminent coun- 
sel was procured, among them being Ingersoll of New Haven, 
James Hillhouse of New Haven, AVoodbridge of Norwich, and 
Samuel Huntington, one of the signers of the Declaration of 
Lidependence, and so at last the trial ended which had been 
nine years before the courts. 

Mr. Phineas Stanton Sr. married Zerviah Eldredge and second, 
Esther Gallup, and their son, Eldredge, was killed at Black 
Rock, New York, Dec. 31st, 1813, in thedast war with England. 
This Mr. Phineas Stanton also had two brothers, Enoch and 
Daniel, who were killed at Fort Griswold, and the family after- 
ward moved to New York State. 

Just below here, where now is the Pumping Station, was for 
years a grist mill, built by Randall and Noyes Brown,until sold 
to Uncle Alec Palmer, who ran it for many years, and here all 
the people came from about the town, bringing the corn to be 
ground, and enjoying the quiet yet humorous man, who is re- 
meml^ered by the present generation, as is also his wife. Aunt 
Delia, who was strono- and active in all home and church work. 



56 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



lu tills old (lallup house, which was a part of his father's es- 
tate, they lived the greater part of their lives, with the exception 
of a few years at Mystic, where his eldest sou, Edwin, was 
born ; here Uncle Alec worked as shoemaker, and lived In the 
house with his brother, Frank Palmer, and had his shop under- 
neath on the south side. After a time they removed to the old 
Gallup house, where they remained till the close of life, honored 
ant] loved by all. 




:KlSr .MILL. 



Mr. Gilbert Fanning built the old house just below the 
Pumping Station about 1750 which has been recently re- 
modelled for the use of the caretaker at the Water A\\)rks. 
His oldest son, Capt. Nathaniel, was a midshipman, command- 
ing the main top of the ship, called Good Man Richard, when 
only about twenty years of age, under Capt. John Paul Jones 
in her famous fight with the English ship, Serapls, a King's 
ship of fifty guns, off Flamborough Head, and he dlstingulsh^ed 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



67 



himself for bravery so much that Capt. Jones recommended 
him to Congress, and he was promoted to Lieutenantcy in the 
United States Navy, and had command of the U. S. Naval 
Station at Charleston, South Carolina, where he died, Sept. 
30th, 1805, aged lifty years. Mr. Gilbert Fanning sold his 
house here to Mr. Samuel Gallup, who married Jemina Enos, a 
seventh day Baptist of Rhode Island. He put up a dam and 
saw mill about 1765 a few rods above where the old grist mill 
stood. His son, Joshua Gallup, married Anne Hinckley, and 




THE FANNING HOUSE. 



lived at Berue, N. Y. state, commonly called by our grand- 
fathers, " Up Country " or " Hill o' Barrack country." They 
were both very large people, weighing over four hundred pounds ; 
they occasionally drove to Stonington, to visit their relatives, 
each occupying an entire seat in their double, open wagon, 
which was drawn by a pair of stout horses. 

On the western slope of Palmer's hill is a house now standing, 
reached from the main road by driving through several gates 
and winding about among the rocks and ledges and passing be- 



58 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



Death larg-e oak and elm trees. It is a story and a half house, 
with the front door in the middle of the end, and at the left an 
immense flat stone covers the ground entrance to the cellar. 
Upon crossing this you come-to the ell door, and passing through 
this sunlit room, come out upon a covered and protected stone 
porch, with a well at the further end beneath the little square 
window, which lets in the light and air. In 17T0 this house 
was occupied by Robert Uenison, whose daughter, Deborah, 




THE ROBERT DEMsON HOUSE. 



was called the Quiambaug Beauty. She, of course, had many 
admirers, and the story is truly told of a gentleman, who riding 
on horseback, one Sunday evening in the latter half of 1770, 
alighted at her father's door, and after greeting her, enquired 
(as was the custom in those days), " If he might have the 
pleasure of her company that evening," but upon her replying 
that she was otherwise engaged, he responded, " Very well, 
Madam, I bid you good evening, I have a good horse and an ex- 
tensive acquaintance," and rapidly cantered away, albeit his 
heart may have remained behind. :\Iiss Denison afterward 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



69 



married Dea. Charles Lewis, and went west, as New York state 
was called in those times, where her descendants are still living. 
This house is now owned l)y "Sir. Noyes Palmer, and occupied 
by Mr. Horace Bromley and family. 

Throuirh the pleasant valley of Quiambaug, we see many 
houses old and new. Turning at the schoolhouse we cross a 
bridge, and climb a hill, seeing on our left a snug and sunny 
house, built on the site of the home of Esther Denisou, who 




DEKIAS DENISOX HOUSE. 



married Jonathan AYheeler in lTo2. This house is now owned 
by Mr. Henry Baldwin. 

Nearly opposite in the lots is the old brown story and a half 
house occupied about the middle of 1700 by George Woodcock, 
an Englishman, who lived here alone for years. 

The records saj-, " He was a Sean-maker, and in 1 749 he 
bought of Edward and Bridget Short for £2:)'), in current 
money of New England, of the old tenoi-, two acres of land 
with dwelling house thereon standing ; this being all the 
land sd. Short boufrht of Thomas ]\Iiner, Samuel ]\[ason 



60 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



and William Denisoii of Stonington.*' The heavily la- 
den fruit trees grow close to the front door, through which 
have passed so many in the years that have gone. Tlie rooms 
with deep summer beams are so low that a person entering 
will find his head coming in contact with them, if he be not 
careful. The floor bears the proof of the old man's solitary 
housekeeping, as the burnt and blackened marks of the kettles 
removed from the hot fire have left their impress for centuries. 
Mr. Woodcock was buried only a few feet from the house, and 




AMBROsI". MlM.K IK.H iK. 



in his will, which is a most amusing and singular one, he makes 
bequests to various friends and neighbors, of " his swarm of 
bees," and the rowen on his meadows to be given to a man to 
whom he owed a debt, in which case if he accepted, it should 
cancel the bill. He also directed that a certain minister from 
Groton should come and preach at his funeral, in return for 
which service, he was to be given a good meal and have his 
horse fed. He gave his house and place to Darius Denison, 
who married Mary Billings in 1771, and lived here, and his 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 61 

son, Darius, after him, wlio married Mr. Jolm IJyde's daughter, 
Nancy, and they built the old house anew in a ijfreat measure. 

As we proceed on our way southward we come to a low, wood- 
colored, gambrel roof house, quite near the roadside and looking 
oil' down the Cove, this has been for many years a home occu- 
pied by the Miner family. The west half was built in 1750, by 
Thomas Palmer (who was a carpenter) for David Miner, the 
great-grandfather of the present owner, i\Ir. Ambrose Miner, 
The east half was built on by his sou, Jesse Miner, who mar- 
ried Sally Hilliard in 1803 ; so it has passed from father to 
son, for the last one hundred and >lifty years. Within, one 
may find man}- curious and interesting documents, and ]\Ir. 
Miner Avill tell you much that is entertaining and historic. 
About opposite, just over the wall on the east side, was in 1702 
the Town Clerk's office of Elnathan Miner, where the records 
kept by himself in those days, are now a pleasure to read, l)e- 
cause of the tine chirography displayed therein. 

A little way beyond, as we make the bend in the road, we 
see a low, brown, gambrelled roof house set amid its bower of 
shrubbery, nearly shrouded with climbing roses and trailing 
vines. On the north side is the leanto, enclosed by lattice 
work, while nearby is the well with the old oaken bucket hang- 
ing from the sweep, and the water which it l)rings up to the 
thirsty one leaning over the side of the curb, is cold, clear and 
refreshinor. The laro^e yard encircles the whole house, and in 
summer time the old-fashioned flowers grow in sweet profu- 
sion ; in the grassy spaces surrounding them, gro^^■ tall dande- 
lions and daisies, while here and there, knotty and knarled old 
apple trees throw their shadows over all. The house stands a 
little off from the bustling highway, not facing the road, l)Ut 
turned almost at rieht ano-les from it as if not caring to hear 
the rush and rattle of this twentieth century life, so absorbed 
it seems in its own memories. This is the old house of Wil- 
liam ^liner which was built in 1770, when lie married AI)igail 
Haley, and went to housekeeping there; it was then only a half 
one story house but, after a time, the large family of twelve 



62 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



children necessitated a larger house and then the east half was 
added. Their third daughter, Abigail, married Joseph McCabe, 
and their daughter married, and has occupied this house for 
years as her home and it is now owned by her children, Joseph 
Cavanaugh and sister. 

Further down at the end of the road and facing the blue 
waters of Quiambaug Cove, where once dwelt the first Thom- 
as ^riner and wife Grace, now stands a more modern house, the 




CAVANAUGH HOUSE. 



third one built near the same spot, and occupied by those of 
the same name and also direct descendants in the 9th genera- 
tion. This house will bring to mind pleasant memories to all 
those, who in the past, were participants of those Sunday school 
picnics, wiien Dea. Palmer, Aunt ^Nlaria, Uncle Nathan and 
Aunt Nancy, Uncle Alec and Aunt Delia, the Judge and wife, 
Esquire Moss and wife. Uncle Tom and the Major were 
among the chief actors upon these occasions.. Ah! well do we 
remember the host at these times, who with his cheerful smile 
and genial face, walking with his hands clasped behind him, 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 63 

was always delighted to see his friends, and his energetic wife 
whose helping hand was needed everywhere at once. Do you 
not see those busy ones making ready the fish and lobster in 
the kitchen, while boards became tables under the drooping 
boughs in the shady 3'ard before the house, where a little later 
all would gather and feast upon the host of good things 
which had been prepared, and under Avhich these tables would 
seem to groan. Then afterwards would come the sail upon the 
water (which came nearly up to the yard about the house), 
making light the hearts of all the children, who especially de- 
lighted in this part of the day's enjoyment. 



CHAPTER FOURTH. 

"In that mansion used to be 

Free hearted hospitality; 

The great fires up the chimney roared, 

The stranger feasted at the board ; 

Tlirough days of sorrow and of mirth, 

Tlirough days of death and days of birth. 

Through every swift vicissitude 

of changeful time, unchanged it stood." 

The old Deiiison house which has become the "]\Iecca" of so 
man}' pilgrimages, is still standing, brown and weather-worn 
by time. It is situated upon the slope of a hill and two im- 
mense elms are in front. It is a large two-story mansion house. 
The front door is in the center with its old iron knocker. 
Upon either side are large sunshiny rooms, with a feeling of 
warm welcome in the very atmosphere. The summer beams, 
cornice and panelings are in evidence. It was built about 
1717, by George Deuison, grandson of Capt. George, and 
has been well cared for by his descendants. A new ell 
has been added within a few years. It was originally covered 
with the long, three feet shingles, which have all been removed 
with the exception of those on the west side, which are still 
quite well preserved. All about the house are large, flat 
rocks, which bear peculiar indentations. Stories of their ori- 
gin have been told to the children of succeedino- o-enerations, 
" That they were footprints ; " certainly very marked are these 
traces, worn or made by some heavy pressure. The George 
Denison who lived here, married Jane Smith, still known as 
Grandmother Jane to a few of Stonington's oldest people. 
She lived to be ninety-eight years old and left a large number 
of descendants, and her picture adorns our church parlors. 



OLD HOMES IX STONIXGTON. 



65 



Many kiiully and beuiguaut persons have passed the thresh- 
ohl of this Denison house, but none more so than Uncle Oli- 
ver, whose very presence with his flowing- white hair as he sat 
in cliurch, with hands resting upon the head of his long cane, 
or as we saw him in the high-hacked armchair in the warmest 




THE GEORGE DENISON HOMESTEAD. 



corner of his pleasant sitting-room, seemed a benediction. 
This house is now occupied by his daughter and husband, Mr. 
and Mrs. Keuben Ford. 

About a quarter of a mile northwest of this house in Pe- 
quotsepos ^"alley, can now l)e seen, standing solitary and alone, 
the old stone chimney of the (irallup house, inhabited in 1G82 



6i) OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

by Benadam and .lohn. sou and grandson of Capt. John Gal- 
lup, of the famous swamp fioht. Later, Silas Wheeler, Avho 
married Polly Thompson lived here, and his brother Nat, who 
married Prudence Breed ; afterwards the latter moved with his 
wife and two sons to Vermont. 

A little to the northeast, stands tlie new house occupied by 
the family of ^Ir. Randall Brown, who built it in the jilace of 
the old mansion which stood there more than a hundred years 
ago, for on March 20th. ITS*!, ]\Ir. Robert Williams sold a cer- 




CHIMNEY. BENADAM GALLUP'S HOUSE. 

tain tract of land of 107 acres, for £150 to Mr. Joshua 
Brown. The boundary of the deed begins " At a mear stoue 
marked J. W.,*' presumably for land of the g-raudfather, John 
Williams, as this ground about here was Williams territory for 
many years previous to this ; iVIr. Thomas Williams, brother of 
Robert and John, who was killed at the massacre at Groton 
Heights, lived near here also, perhaps in the very house wheie 
now an old cellar and well are plainly visible a little to 
the southwest of the present dwelling house. Mr. Robert 
Williams was a very handsome man, educated at Dartmouth 



OLD HOMES IN STOXINGTON. 



67 



College, and travelled about the country a great deal. He was 
also unusually strong, for the story is told of him tliat he 
wished to try his strength with the negro giant, A^enture, but 
wlien Venture held out his hand and requested liim to step 




THE JOSHUA BROWN HOUSE. 

ui)on it and easily lifted hini into the air, ]Mr. AVillianis was 
satisfied tliat his strength was more than equalled. 

The old liouse wliich was on this farm, was probably l)uilt 
about the middle of 1700, and was originally gambrel-roofed, 
then raised to two stories in front with the long, slanting roof 
in the rear, while still later it Avas entirely raised and became 



G8 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



the large, commodious dwelling" wliich many yet rememl)er. 
In the early days only the east side was completed, while the 
west was left nntinished for a long time and the cattle kept 
within it during cold weather, and some of the rooms in the 
second story were also left in tiie same condition. Here for 
four generations have lived the Brown family, direct descen- 
dants of Joshua and Joanna (Rogers) Brown, who came here 
to live from North Stoniugton : their son, Randall, who married 
Sally Palmer, sister of Dea. Noyes, about 1805, lived here, and 




WHITK HALL. 



later their oldest son, Randall, who married Mary Ann Holmes, 
began housekeeping here, and a few years later was joined by 
his brother Noyes, who married Martha Noyes, and they began 
housekeeping in the new ell which had been more recently 
added. The name Randall, which has been so faitlifully carried 
down from one generation to the next in this family, came from 
Mr. Joshua Brown's mother, who was Elizabeth Randall, born 
July 4th, 1(396. 

A little further west is the White Hall Mansion, l)uilt by 
Dr. Dudley Woodbridge about 1740, who occupied it till his 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



60 



death. Some twenty 3-ears before, another house stood there, 
Avhere dwelt Lieut. William Gallup, whose daughter Tem- 
perance, married, in 1720, Rev. William Worthinston, the first 
minister at North Stonington, and to whose wedding came the 
Indians from Indiautown, some eight miles above, with squaws 
and papooses, proudly displaying their feathers, paint and beads. 
They had been invited by the bride's uncle in a spirit of mis- 
chief, but when they arrived, marching in single file (as was 
their custom ), they were escorted around to the kitchen, where 




MRS. LUCY STANTON WHEKI, 



plenty of hard cider and Yorky cakes were served to them, and 
then they were politely invited by the bride's father to call 
again some other day, for he did not intend that his daughter's 
wedding should be made conspicuous by an unusual or un- 
seemly display. This farm has been owned and inhabited by 
many different families since the time when Mr. Woodbridge 
gave it to his nei)hew, Mr. William Rodman. At one time ^Ir. 
Jared Wilcox, who married liridget Stanton in 1 788, owned 
and occupied it till they sold and removed to New York state. 
It is now owned by .Mr. Samuel lientley. 



70 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



A mile or so above, in the picturesque village of old Mystic, 
much fretiueuted by artists, stands an old wood-colored, double 
house, which though just over the line into Groton, seems to 
stretch out hospitable arms, as if to take in the whole place. 
In the dooryard grow many things sweet and green. The 
highway runs on all sides of the house, and a triangular green 
is before the door. This house was constructed by Dr. Dudley 
VVoodbridge in 1750, and is built against a bank, so that the upi)er 
windows in the rear are on a level with the highway. A long 



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COL. NATHAN WHEEI.EK HOUSE. 



ell stretches out toward the road on the south, which has been 
frequently occupied by shoemakers. This house is now owned 
by ]\Irs. Lucy Stanton Wheeler, a daughter of one of the 
(iroton Heights heroes, Edward Stanton, who was seriously 
wounded at the battle there in 1781. She can tell 30U of many 
an interesting event which occurred in her childhood, ninety- 
six years ago, and is proud to show her friends the gold spoon 
which was presented to her as a Real Daughter of a True 
Patriot, by the society of the Daughters of the Kevolution of 
Groton and Stoningtou, of which she is an lionorary meiuber. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



71 



This house was once a Tavern, and is said to have sheltered 
many famous men on their journeys to and from New York and 
Boston by stage coach, as it is situated on the old Turnpike 
between those cities. 

Three miles further east is the house of Col. Nathan Wheeler, 
which was built about I7l>0, and is still standing, well preserved. 
Where now grand elms and maples cast their shade on the broad 
green before the door, could once be seen the grand change of 
horses on the arrival of the stage coach, which occurred twice 



- ^ . . ' -% 



f^^'% . . - 





Whl'llKN A\ hKV lluL.^ii. 



each day, going both east and west, Ijetween New York and 
Providence. This was cjuite a novel and exciting time, and 
the children of the neighl)orhoo(l, and even from several miles 
distant, were allowed as a great treat to go and see the passing 
of the stage. The horses, four and sometimes six, were unhitched 
in a twinkling, and fresh ones stood ready to take their places, 
and proceed at once on their way. About IS-b") saw the last 
of this mode of conveyance on this road, as the railroad was 
opened in 1837, from Stonington to Providence. This house 
was occupied by Col. Nathan's son, Ciles, and after his death it 



72 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



was sold to various parties, but now l)elongs to IMiss Bertha 
York. 

A little above the vilhige of old Mystic, stands the Stei)hen 
Avery house, built by him about 1750, The small window 
paues and the unusual numl)er of windows, four in tlie tirst 
story at the west, three above and four in the attic, with the 
many outer doors, shows it to have been " Of ye olden time." 
Mr. Avery had a most benevolent heart, and having no children 
of liis own till late in life, he had helped and cared for his 




EBENEZER WILLIAMS HOUSE. 



nieces and nephews and many others, as he was one of a large 
family of children, and had four brothers in the Revolutionary 
war, one of whom died, and two others were fearfully wounded 
at Fort Griswold. At one time a private school was kept in 
the upper part of the house, lie also Imilt a grist mill west of 
his house, on Sicanemus brook, which was afterward sold to the 
First Mystic Manufacturing Co., chartered in 1814. The num- 
ber of beautiful and romantic drives and walks about this place 
and the nearby village, make it the natural rendezvous for 
artists and lovers of nature, of which there are so many that 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



73 



every year finds the houses which will accommodate guests, full 
to overflowing. This place is now owned by the grandsons of 
Mr. Avery, INIr. Stephen and Everett Brown. 

A short distance above here, stands the little whitewashed 
house, which was at one time used as the farm-house for the 
Stephen Avery place, but long before that time it was the home 
of a A¥illiams family, perhaps the very first who came to Stou- 
ington from Roxbury, Mass., in 1685, as the hom.e of this first 
Ebenezer has never been located anywheie else, lie married 




NAl HANUCl, WILLIAMS IIiJl'^K 



Mary Wheeler, granddaughter of the first Thomas Wheeler. 
It has been occupied during these years by many different 
families. Here lived Fiddler Bill Chesebrough in the early part 
of 1800, also later the (larside family, who are ren;eml)ered by 
the present generation. 

The son, Nathaniel Williams, lived near the junction of the 
Lantern 11 ill road with the turn[)ike, where the house yet stands, 
looking strong and stanch for many years yet, though built in 
1720. It is in good condition, a })iazza has been added at the front, 
which destroys the plain outline of the upper part of the front 



74 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



porch, and somewhat detracts from its old style ; the four feet 
shingles on the north side are still to be seen, and within the 
house one's imagination can easily run riot in the low ceiled 
rooms, made to seem still lower by the summer beams, which 
seem drooping to meet you as you enter. The square front 
hall is quite large and similar to those built in the present time. 
The east room lias been partitioned oti", but it was originally 
twenty feet squai'e. Here it was that their daughter, Anne, 
stood, when she married Col. William Ledyard,of Fort Griswold 



^■'P*--vv 






/ \'-:'''^^'1'-^ 




IHO.MAS WILLIAMS HOUSE. 



fame, in 1781. Little did she dream on that blissful morning of 
her wedding day, that so much of pride and sorrow was to be 
mingled in her lot in life : for he it w\\s who commanded the 
Fort at (xroton until finding further resistance useless, and the 
British sw^arming in upon them, led by Capt. Bloomfield, who 
enquired, '• Who commands this fort?" Col. Ledyard replied, "I 
did sir, but you do now, " at the same time handing the hilt of 
his sword to him, wiien Capt. Bloomfield took it, and plunged it 
into the bosom of our brave officer, who fell on his face and 
immediately expired. This historic house has been in the 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



75 



Williams family tlirou<rh succeeding generations ever since its 
erection, and the land joined that of Mr. Joshua 'Hempstead, 
who Avas a friend of Mr. Williams ; in his Diary, he speaks of 
him many times and of being one of the bearers at Mr. Williams' 
funeral, with Major Israel Hewitt, Lieut. William Denison, Capt. 
Gallup, Revs. ]\Ir. Rossiter and Fish; so we find in those days 
that the ministers acted as bearers also. A few j-ears ago this 
house was sold b}- Mrs. Elisha Miner of Grotou, she being the 
last of the family in possession. 




RICHARD ilEMPSTEAD HOUSE. 



Anne Led}'ard's brother, Thomas Williams, lived quite near 
in the low gambrel-roofed house, whose chimney is Ijuilt about 
halfway between the ridgepole and the plates on the long slo})- 
ing north roof, which nearly reaches the ground. This house 
stands almost enveloped in shrubbery and trees on the road 
which leads up to the other old Williams house. It originally 
faced the west, and the double door remains on that side, \\ Inch 
opens into an entr}- where the back stairs lead al)ove. Directly 
in the middle of the floor of this room is a trap door, where 
goods or valuables were ])laced when danger was near. When 



76 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



the road was laid out on the east side of the house, it obliofinglv 
opened its front door to the east. ^Nlau}- interesting facts are 
gleaned about this old house, which rests contentedly in this 
shady and quiet nook, where in 1787, Thomas Williams brought 
his bride, Abigail Hempstead, daughter of Christopher and 
Mary. The old Hempstead house on the plains has long since 
gone to ruin, but the records of the Hempsteads as a family are 
preserved in the Hemjjstead Diary, which is now published by 
the New London County Historical Societ}'. Tiiis house has 
remained in the Williams family until within a few years, 
and was occupied till their death l)y Mr. Thomas Williams* two 



'•V?*f,-c 




•II IE MARTIN WHITE HOUSE. 



daughters, Sally and Abl»y, who were the aunts of everybody 
in the neighborhood, young and old. 

The Richard Hempstead house is situated on the road as you 
go to Lantern Hill from Mystic, and still stands modest and 
unassuming with its ffambrel roof, firm and true as though it 
was only fifty years old instead of nearer one hundred and 
fifty. This Richard was a descendant of the tirst Robert of 
New London ; he resided here and his parents before him. 
His wife was Lucy Davis, who at his death married a Mr. Holt 
of New London, and afterwards Mr. Jedediah Briggs of Rhode 
Island. The house has since passed into other hands, and is 
now owned l)y Mr. Philetus Brown. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



77 



Situated in the northwest part of the town, is Wolf Neck, 
which obtained its name from the fact that in the early days an 
Indian killed a wolf there, and hung it up by tlie neck on a 
tree near the summit of the hill, where it could be plainly seen 
by the passersby, and ever since " Wolf Neck " has held its 
name. Quite near here, Mr. ^fartin White owns and lives in a 
one-story, douljle house, protected from the roadway bv the 
fence which encloses large apple trees, whose oolden fruit, in 
the autumn, lies upon the grouud in rich abundance. This 
house was built by Samuel Stanton's brother some one hundred 




KELLOGG HOUSli;. 



and twent\-five years ago, and later was occupied by Mr. Amos 
Shaw, who married Hannah Leeds. 

The David Kellogg house stands near by at the corner of the 
road, with trees, vines and shrubs before the door. It was 
built in 1793, a one-story half house, by Mr. Kellogg, wlio Avas 
a carpenter, and a most thorough and painstaking one. He 
had a family of twelve children. When they were growing up 
and the home nest was becoming too small for such a numerous 
family, he added on the west half, and made it into the present 
doul)le house which is now well preserved and good for a cen- 
tur\- more. It is set back from the road, within an enclosure, 



78 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



the entrance to which is a little wooden gate, worn smooth by 
the generations of little fingers which have pushed it to and 
fro as the\' have passed in and ont. 

The Eldredge house, later called the Elisha Bennet house 
because owned by him, is still standing, low and brown, on the 
old road from head of Mystic to Wolf Xeck, set back a little from 
the gaze of the traveller, cozily sheltered by some old apple trees, 
whose boughs hang shelteringiy over this old landmark, with 
its broad stone doorsteps, whicli have been trodden by so many 




liLURMDGli lloU'SIi. 



feet in bygone days ; for here came Capt. Daniel Eldredge (then 
called Eldred) from Rhode Island in 1704, as tlie town records 
and Joshua Hempstead's Diary show, and here at the Road 
Church his children were l)aptized, and he undoubtedly built 
this house. Some of his children went back to Kingstown, 
and James is recorded there, but his son, Christopher, came 
here to this place, and lived after marrying Molly Hempstead, 
grandchiughter of Joshua Hempstead. Rev. George Whitfield 
came here while he was visiting :\Ir. Hempstead in 1747, avIio 
lived quite near by. This house is now owned by Mr. Benjamin 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTOX. 



'9 



Brown, and shelters one whose artistic mind and eye sees the 
beautiful in all tilings about her. 

About Wolf Xeck are many old houses, and driving down 
through the grand old " Witch woods " we find a schoolhouse 
long since closed, where in earlier days religious meetings were 
often held, led liy the persons in the adjoining towns, who were 
interested to carry tlie Gospel to those aljout tliem. It was 
here tliat the old colored man, a native of that place, who lived 
in a little tumble-down house a sliort distance from the road, 
exhorted his audience, " To walk as well as talk." 




CEN. JOHN GALLUP HOUSE. 

A'short distance below this schoolhouse stands an old wood- 
colored story and a half house, the ridge of its roof sloping 
inward, showing plainly that it has stood here for many a long 
year. It was occupied by Gen. John (iallup, who married Ilannali 
Denison in 1782, but it was prol)ably built long l)efore. lie 
was active in the war of the Revolution, and soon after its close, 
he removed to Knox, New York state, with his cousins, Samuel 
(iallupand brothers, and established a settlement there. Tlie\- 
had a large familv of children, of whom Esthei' married Mr. 
El)enezer Denison. She was born here and years after returned 
on a visit to this old home of her childhood, and carried a rose- 



80 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



bush from here to her new home in the then west. Their 
daughter, Mary, married Capt. Warren Hohnes, who is so well 
known as the Captain from :\Iystic, who has been around Cape 
Horn nioi'e times than any other sailor. 

A short distance below the (ien. John Gallup house, we turn 
to the west, and driving along the shaded road, we come to a 
o-ate from where we can see a white, sunshiny, low house that 
has belonged in the Bennett family for six generations, and 
ever since the land was granted to them l)y Gov. Wiuthrop. 




I UK UliNNlil I He rsiC. 



The old house was built in the latter part of 1600, and stood a 
trifle to the east of the present one, which was erected in 1773. 
At the rear of the house is the old style lean-to where the 
wood-colored rafters are in plain sight. The room has an east 
and west door, through which can be seen the garden with its 
fruit trees and vines climbing over the walls. Within, the 
rooms low and large, are full of cheer and warmth. The west 
one has been enlarged : over the fire-place are broad and deep 
panelings, while in an opposite corner is the long bufl'et, with 
its shelves filled with old-fashioned crockery. For many years 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



81 



four generations have occupied this house at one and the same 
time. It is still held by the family, and bids fair to remain so 
for many more years. 

The village of Old Mystic, around which so much of historic 
interest centers, lies nestled among the hills, with the Mystic 
River sparkling in its graceful curves and stretching away to 
the south. Several hundred-year-old houses are found within 
its limits. The first Clift house is a little northeast of the Old 
Hj'de factory. It is now painted yellow and stands somewhat 
alone upon the old Turnpike road, larger than its neighbors 
and well preserved, though built about 1790 by Amos Clift, 




CLIKT HOUSE. 



when he came to Stonington from Preston and married Es- 
ther ^V"illiams. Soon after they moved to Berne, New York 
state, and his wife dying in a short time, he returned to Ston- 
ington, wliere he married again and had a large family of 
children. 

The old John Hyde homestead a short distance below, was 
built by Mr. Enocli lUirrows in the opening years of ISOO, in 
a more elegant fashion than the ordinary house of those days, 
large and square, with hipped roof and double porticos at the 
front door and directly above. Mr. Burrows presented it to 
his daughter Lucy, who married Mr. John Hyde in 1808. 



82 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



Here, under the same roof and the same shingles, were born 
their fifteen children, and one grandchild, and as the years 
rolled on, and the children, and children's children came to the 
old home, it became a busy hive as well as the center of life and 
fasliion in the village. Sometimes as many as twenty-eiofht 




HVDE MANSION. 



were in the family daring the summer months, when their 
friends gathered within these hospitable walls. Among these 
were two of the Rodgers family, one of whom became Admiral, 
and the other Commodore, George Rodgers, who lost his life 
at the bombardment of Fort Champlain ; Capt. Ringold of 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 83 

the U. S. Army, who fought in tlie war with Mexico, also 
Lieut. A. P. Kodgers, who was killed in leading the " Forlorn 
Hope " at Chapultepee, Mexico. 

This house was the first in the place to be opened to the 
Methodist Itinerant, and in one of the front parlors meetings 
were held. In the east and west rooms were marble mantles 
and hearths with ornamented cast-iron backs and sides to the 
fire-places, where blazed the hickory logs, throwing out heat 
suthcient to warm the room and once to even crack the marl)le 
hearth. .Mrs. Hyde was very fond of Howers, and the beauti- 
ful garden laid out with l)orders made a fine display for all ; 
even the children delighted in it, as they saw them from the win- 
dows of the old schoolhouse near b}'. Mr. John Hyde was the 
oldest of fifteen children and became the fatlier of the same 
number. It was indeed a proud moment when he came to the 
Polls, at the Road, with his eight sons and all voted the Whig 
ticket. 

Two of the sons became ministers, and one daughter mairied 
Rev. James McDonald, a wonderfully imjjressive speaker and 
honored by all who knew him. He preached in New London 
for a time and was afterwards connected with a college in New 
Jerse}^. A son, John Hyde, was editor of " The Parthenon " 
(a magazine of Union College), and valedictorian of his class, 
there. He was United States Consul to San Juan, Porto Rico, 
under President Lincoln, and was once introduced by Daniel 
Webster as " one of the brightest jewels of the Whig party." 
He was a graduate of the Harvard Law school and a medical 
school in New York City, and was proprietor and. editor of the 
New London Gazette, while he was considered by talented 
men as mentally qualified for any office in the gift of the peo])le 
of the United States. This Hyde house has been sold and 
rented for years, and the family scattered from the Atlantic to 
the Pacific Ocean, l)ut still })leasant memories cluster about it, 
and influences emanating from here have made, and will yet 
make other homes better and happier. 



84 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



A little fartlier down on the opposite side of the street, 
stands the old home of Elijah Williams, always called the Case 
Bottle house. Recently verandahs have been added to the 
upper and lower stories, soiuewhat changing its appearance. 
Here dwelt Elijah Williams m ITlM], who married Mehitable 
Rossiter, granddaughter of our Rev. Ebenezer Rossiter, who 
preached at the Road Church in 1722; she was known to all 
the Yillagers as Aunt Hetty. 

The oldest house in the village is a little farther down, near- 




EI.IIAH WILLIAMS HOL'SE. 



ly opposite where the old school house used to stand. A little 
low, wood-colored house, called the Chester house, or more fa- 
miliarly, the Washington house, as it is said that George 
Washington once dined here when passing through the place. 
It has the east and west sides covered with the old time 
shingles, tliree feet long, and as* you enter the front door the 
little square hall invitingly receives you ; the high shelf, built 
out from the rear of this wall, was used in days of yore, to place 
the band-boxes upon, containing the Sunday bonnets, which 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



85 



could be taken out of the box and put on the head the last 
thino^ as one left the house. The rooms on either side of the 
door are pleasant and the sun streams in through the small 
panes of glass which are in the windows. It is now being ren- 
ovated by Mr. Breuton Copp and will add much of new style 
architecture to this street in the village. 

The Leonard Williams house is virtually unchanged, located 
opposite the old Hyde store, now owned by Mr. Horace Wil- 
liams ; it is known to the older inhabitants as the Amos Williams' 
hotel or the Old Wayside Inu, where once stopped the four- 
horse stao'es that ran from New London to Providence. The 



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CHESTER HOUSE. 



stages and hoises were owned by ^Ir. Frank Amy, and ]\Ir. 
Giles Hallam, Jr. drove one for a time. At this tavern, 
travellers were fed and regaled at the bar: it was also made 
famous at one time l)y the arrival of Daniel Webster, who was 
on his way from Boston to Washington, and reached Stoning- 
ton tlie day the Lexington was burned ; as there was no means 
of transi)ortation to New York from there, except to get to 
New London, Mr. Caiu'on, who kept the Steamboat Hotel, 
where ^h-. Webster put up, employed Mr. liussell Wheeler, who 
was in liis service there, to procure a sleigh, as snow was on 



86 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



the groimd, and take ^Ir. Webster to the Ferry at Groton 
Bank, but tinding- themselves chilled, they stopped at the luii 
at Mystic to warm both the outer and the inner man, after 
which they proceeded on their way to Groton, where they 
made a call upon Mother Bailey of Revolutionary fame. This 
house is still in the Williams family, standing firm and secure 
under its protection of fine old shade trees, close to the road- 
side. After Mr. Amos Williams' death, his son, Leonard Wil- 
liams and family occupied it, and the beautiful flowers about 











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1^1 


H 



AMOS WILLIAMS HOTEL. 



the yard and in the rooms, with all the old-time garments stored 
away in the chambers above, v.'ill long be remembered as well 
as those who made this home so delightful. 

The large white house, with three tiers of bay windows, 
standing near the centre of the village, with its gardens in the 
rear and a delightful view of the Mystic River winding among 
its green islands just before the door, is the Enoch Burrows 
house, built in 1790. One of his daughters married Esquire 
Elias Brown, and lived there for a time. The long flight of 
marble steps which leads up to the front door came" from :\rr. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



87 



Burrows' marble quarry, located in western Massachusetts near 
PittstieUl. From the same quarry was brought the marble to 
build tlie new City Hall in Philadelphia, which occupies four 
blocks. The house also contains a marl)le sink and a large stir- 
ring dish, all from the same quarry, which was brought dow^i the 
Connecticut river in some kind of a water craft, and landed at 
the dock before the door. 

Mr. Burrows was a large landholder, owning many beautiful 
farms and ^Mystic Island, originally called Ram's Island. He 




II l;' KROWS HOUSE. 



married Esther Denison, daughter of Grandmother Jane ; she 
was a very energetic woman, a housekeeper and homemaker 
of New England's best type, large-hearted, generous, sociable 
and entertaining, an excellent cook, and gave much attention 
to all appetizing things which please the eye and appeal to the 
palate. She had a good force of domestics to execute lier com- 
mands, and when her table was seen covered with china, glass 
and silver, and loaded with choice viands, one needed no second 
invitation to partake of her hospitality. Her husband was a 



88 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



man of commauding figure, six feet two inches in his stockings; 
genial, kind-hearted and capable, and in his later years, in his 
home in West Troy, New York, was called Judge liurrows. 
Their son, Sihis, afterwards lived here ; he was interested in ship- 
building, and engaged in commercial pursuits in New York, and 
was also in the whaling and sealing business. He made several 
"visits to Brazil and Hong Kong, ('hina, wdiere he established a 
commercial house ; he left there in 1859 for the last time and 
made his home in this village, where he died in 1870. His children 




1 iU. M \\M\( 



occupied the house as a summer home at various times, and it 
now belongs to his grandchihb'en. It is built in a grander 
style than most houses of its age ; the long hall and side veran- 
dah, large rooms and windows protected by their iron balconies, 
make it noticeable as a fine old residence. In the September 
gale of 1815, the tide swept high up on the steps. In front 
of this house once stood a gambrel-roofed store, where John 
Hyde began liis business education with Mv. Enoch Burrows. 
At the foot of Quaquataug's western slope stands the Dr. 
Manning house on a little eminence witli ample grounds before 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



89 



the door. It was built about 1797 by a Mr. P^klredge, and 
owned by Stephen Avery, of whom it was purchased by Dr. 
Mason Manning about 1825, Avhen he came here from Windham, 
Ct. Here he lived when he married his second wife, ^Nliss Har- 
riet Chesel)rough Leeds, in 1S29. Mr. (xeorge Clreenman occu- 
pied the house with him at the time as it w'as arranged for two 
families ; there was also a store kept in a little building just at 
the entrance to the present drivewa}^ near the street. This 
house is lars^e and double, the sides are covered with shino-les 




CHRISTOPHER LEEDS HOUSE. 



which were placed there when it was erected, though the roof 
has been covered three times. Dr. Manning was a })hysiciau 
of the old school, able and trustworthy, and resided here till 
his death. 

On November loth, 1815, a tract of land w'as bought in Old 
Mystic of Stephen Avery, by Thomas and Christopher Leeds, 
where the quaint house which stands high u}) on the east bank 
of the Mystic River is now seen : the style of the house with its 
gambrel roof and " overhang " with its little lean-to at the rear 
shows that it must have been built before the sale of this land. 



90 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



Mr. Christopher Leeds married Mercy Hobart, and lived there 
in the early part of ISOO. Just below here was a shipyard 
where vessels were built. Enoch Burrows, John Hyde and 
Christopher Leeds were partners in this business. One of the 
vessels built here in 1812 was the Flambeaux ; she was designed 
by Mr. Leeds himself, and was a brigantine of 300 tons, and 
was sold to the United States government. Thus we see that 
in those days this ([uiet valley was a busy place and the 
scene of active operations. 

On the road that leads to the village of Mystic, stands a 




LEWIS HOUSE. 



house, large and square, painted white, situated on a side hill, 
commanding a fine view of the surrounding country. It looks 
like a modern house, but the original foundations are of the 
house built by Capt. Joseph Gallup in 1720. It has been im- 
proved and kept up by the different families, who have made it 
their abiding place, among whom were Dea. Samuel Langworthy, 
his son, George, Dea. B. F. Lewis and others, till now it belongs 
to Mr. James Norman. 

At the east of the village rises the grand old Quaquataug 
Hill which commands an extensive view of the surrounding 
country and Long Island Sound, while nearer flows the Mystic 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



91 



River. At its very summit, a road turns and winds away 
among the pleasant meadows for a quarter of a mile, till you 
reach a typical old New England home, l)uilt by Nehemiah 
Williams in 1719. It is a large, two-story, double house painted 
white, and it seems almost impossible that it is so old, till you 
enter the ell which is evidently the oldest part and remains 
the same as it was originally built, with the various rooms out 
of the large kitchen : sink room, buttery, cheese room, press 
room, milk room and meal room, all with the bare floors kept 
clean and sweet. 




PRENTICE WILLIAMS HOUSE. 



The old cheese press still stands in its accustomed place, 
while the kitchen has the old hooks in the ceiling, the old-style 
half doors at the west and east, through which a view of the 
garden makes a pretty picture. A little bedroom ofl' this kitchen 
seemingly just large enough to take in a cot, was the sleeping- 
room used in those early days. In the dining room stands the 
grandfather's clock, still evenly ticking away the hours, as in 
the days of yore. In the west room is the ])anelling to be seen 
on the entire east side, and over the tire-place is a little cupboard. 



92 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

while iu the southwest corner is the tall corner buffet wliich 
was built into nearly all the old houses. This is filled with 
ancient crockery in the usual colors of pink, blue and pencil 
ware. The summer beams and cornices are in plain sight in all 
the rooms, lower and upper, liest of all is the children's play- 
room (for there are many little Williams children yet in this old 
home). In the long north room al)Ove, the rafters are exj^osed and 
the bare floor, with its broad oak boards divided off, is the play- 
room of each child ; the girls have houses and dolls in theirs, 
and the l)03S have barns with cattle and horses. In the corner 
stands the very same little old narrow bedstead which used to 
stand in the tiny bedroom l)elow, and is now occupied by one 
of the present generations of little Williamses. This house and 
fann have belonged in this same family since the house was 
l)nilt, havino; been left from one generation to the nexl, till now 
it is in possession of the eighth, ]Mr, Prentice Willliams and 
famil3\ Mr. Nehemiah Williams' son. Park, who was the great- 
grandfather, was in the Revolution in 177(j, and again as drum- 
mer in Capt. William Stanton's Com})any in ITSO. 

Tliere were several other Williams houses about this hill ; 
the one down the road but a short distance just back of where 
Mr. Erastus Holmes now lives, was the Joshua Williams house, 
wliich has been taken down within the last fift_y years. This 
Mr. Williams was married three times, and his descendants are 
Avortlw men and women, who are located in different states, 
Mr. Sanford Williams lived south of here a few rods, in a one 
story brown house which was recently burned, only a heap of 
ruins now marking the s})ot. Tlie old schoolhouse stood on tlie 
south side of the road, but that, too, has been removed within 
the last half century. There were two other old houses very near 
here, but time has removed the traces ; in one of them, which 
was built by Samuel Mason, the son of Capt. John, lived John 
Reynolds iu 1669, and in the other Mr. Elias Stanton was 
born, who afterAAards moved to New York state. 

At the very summit of Quaquataug, on the site of the first 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



93 



Williams house on this hill, stands a double mansion house set 
anrid its white enclosure, which was built in 1775. The first 
house which stood here before this Avas erected in 1712 but was 
l)urued down. It happened on this wise: Dea. Eleazer Williams' 
twelve year old daughter, Martha, or Patty, as she was called, 
was sent upstairs towards nitjht to get something from a 
small closet where flax was kept, and as she carried a lighted 
candle, a spark flew from it, which quickly ignited the flax ; 



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DEACON EI.KAZER WILLIAMS HOI'SE. 



child-like, frightened at the mischief wrought, she hurriedly 
closed the door, and ran down stairs, telling no one ; soon the 
flames were seen, but as there was no adequate means of 
extinguishing them, the house was reduced to ashes in a very 
short time. Patty grew up and married the great-great-grand- 
son of the famous Capt. George Denison, and lived in the 
present old Denison house, near Mystic. 



CHAPTER FIP^TH. 

" AVe sat within tlie farm house okl, 

"Whose windows looking o'er tlie bay 
(iave to the sea-breeze, damp and cohl, 
An easy entrance night and day. 

Xot far away Ave see the p()rt, 

The strange, okl-fashioned, silent town, 

The lighthouse, the dismantled fort. 

The wooden houses, ijuaint and brown.'' 

On a liigh hill which commands a beantifnl view just east of 
the village of Mystic, Ct., stands the Stanton AVilliams house, 
formerly owned by Capt. John Stanton, son of Thomas the 
first, who married Kev. William Thompson's daughter. He was 
educated to be a teacher of the Gospel to the Indians, but after- 
wards Avas engaged iu other work. He was in the Narragan- 
sett fight in 1675. His home was near the village of Mystic, 
bounded by lands of Capt John Gallup and Capt^ George Deui- 
son. The house which he built was near the entrance "to Mr. 
Elias Williams' present residence, and must have been a laroe 
one, as the cellar yet indicates. His son Joseph lived there 
till 1712, when he built a new house on the brow of the hill, 
very near the present one, and his son Joseph was carried 
there as a baby; he grew up and married, and still remained 
there till he divided his land, and gave this house to his son 
William, and his land to the south to his son Nathan, who 
built^the present house, now occupied by Mr. Stanton Williams, 
in 1777. 

It was at first a one-story house with no ell till 1798 when 
Mr. Nathan Stanton moved to New York state, and his brother 
A\ ilham rented the old homestead and came to live at this place, 

94 



OLD HOMES IX STONINGTON. 



95 



Avheii be raised it to two stories, Jind since then it lias been 
somewhat improved and renovated. A short distance from 
here, down the hill, at the north and quite near the present ice 
houses, used to stand the old, old schoolhouse, built in the 
middle of 1700, which was so close to the great rock, still there 
by the roadside, that the children used to reach out of the win- 
dows after a rain-fall, and dip their slates in the pools of water 
which had filled the little hollows in the rock. 

Major John ]\Iason, whose military career is well known and 




iLLlAMs liijL>L. 



appreciated in Stonington. where he had much land given him by 
the Colony of Connecticut, bequeathed to his son Samuel that 
part between Pequotsepos Brook and the land of the emigrant 
Thomas Miner, and to his son Lieut. Daniel ^Nlason all that 
part west of Thomas Miner's to Blackmore's Head (a rock 
which was the eastern bound of Capt. George Denison's second 
grant of land in Stoniugton and is located on the east side of 
the present farm of Henry ]M. Palmer). 

This 3-oungest sou of Major John's became Captain and occu- 
pied in Stoniugton an ample domain confirmed by the Colony 



96 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

to his father near the borders of Long Island Sound. This es- 
tate comprised •• Chippechaug Island in Mystic Bay ," since 
then called " Mason's Island,"' and a large tract of upland and 
meadow. He was commissioned quartermaster of the New 
London Co. Troop of Dragoons, Oct. ITth, lOTo, in the 21st 
year of his age, was Lieut. Oct. 7th, 1701, and promoted to the 
rank of Captain. He was for a time instructor of the newly 
established school on the Plain in Norwich in 1679. This was 
after the death of his first wife, Miss Margaret, daughter of 
Edward Denison of li()xl)ury, Mass. He married again in li>79, 
Rebecca Hobart, andi returned to Stoningtou as his permanent 
residence ; he was closely identified with the interests of the 
town, representing it at times as Deputy in the General Court, 
and was influential in the affairs of the Colony. His descen- 
dants have ever since made this Island their home, and there 
is yet standing an old ^lason house whicR is now occupied by 
those who are in direct line from Lieut. Daniel ^lason. 

'' The Riding Way " which is now crossed by the bridge l)e- 
tween the Island and the mainland was once crossed by boats, 
and at low water by those on horseback, and a story is told of 
the old negro boatman who carried travellers across, having 
l)een warned against taking a certain young man over who was 
known to be very partial to one of the young ladies on the 
Island, but whose relatives were very much opposed to his 
choice ; they tried in various ways to coax and bribe .the old 
negro to prevent his being carried across, but to no avail, for 
he was never able to decide upon the right man, consequently 
never knew when he was carrying him over; so this love story 
worked out its own gracious fulfillment. 

In the village of Mystic only one house remains over 100 
years old, and that is the one now owned by Mr. Frank Dick- 
enson on Denison St. It was called the Beebe Denison house. 
He married Hannah Chesebrough, half sister of Mr. Grandison 
Chesebrough, in 1784, and they lived there till her death in 
1800. At that time only three houses were standiup- in the 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



97 



present village of INIystic, this one, the John Denison house, 
and the one on Pistol Point; both of these are now gone. The 
latter was destroyed by fire, and the Denison house was taken 
down, the timbers and boards that were not too badly decayed 
being used to make mementos, or stored for future use. The 
large doorstep was placed in front of the new residence of Mr. 
Frederick Denison, where it can now be seen. There are sev- 
-eral other houses in the village which approach the century 
mark, the one of Capt. Simeon Haley and his two brothers, 
'George and Jeremiah, who built, one the steamboat hotel near 
his brother Simeon, and the other the present house now occu- 




BEEBE DEMSOX HOUSE. 



pied by Mr. John Manning. Tlie house in which Cai)t. Jerrv 
Holmes used to live was Iniilt about 1813, and two years later 
during the September gale, September 23, 1815, the water came 
to the upper cellar stair before they left the house. For manv 
3^ears Capt. Holmes's family lived on one side of the house and 
Mr. Charles ]Mallory's on the other. The two women occupied 
the same kitchen and cooked at the same firei)lace. Capt. 
Holmes and wife were both very [)atriotic, he being active in the 
defence of Stonington. lie also had command of the Hornet 
wliich was used to carry torpedoes, some of which were buried 



98 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 




OLD HOMES IN STON1N6TON. 99 

in their cellar for some time before they were used in an attempt 
to l)low up the British fleet. 

Capt. George Denisou's oldest son John, lived in the old 
Deuison house situated at the foot of Mystic Hill, across the, 
road west of the present blacksmith shop. It was the first house. 
l)uilt in the village about 1669, and became a well known land- 
mark. It always remained in the Denison family till it was 
taken down in 1888, and so is remembered by many yet liv- 
ing. Aunt Lavinia Denison also lived there and was a remark- 
able woman. Her Thanksgiving gatherings were a notable 
event in the village and everybody loved to meet and greet her 
on these occasions. She lived to a ripe old age and will be 
long remembered. John Denison's great-grandson Isaac, being 
in poor health, Avas not able to go into the Revolutionary war, 
but opened this mansion house, in which he lived, for the shelter 
and care of many refugees from Long Island, when the British 
held the same, during the war. 

Mr. Isaac Denison's son Ebenezer, married for his second wife 
Mrs. Phebe Moore ( Wickham Smith) ; she was a woman of re- 
markable worth, born in 1769, and at nineteen }'ears united 
with the CouQ-. Church. At the age of twentv-four she organ- 
ized the first Sunday School on Long Ishmd and the second in 
America. Her husband, Mr. Joseph AVickham, died in 1808 
and three years later she married Edward Smith of Stonington 
and soon after started the first Sunday School in Eastern Conn. 
This was afterwards connected with the Road Church. After 
]\h-. Smith's death, she went back to Long Island and there 
organized her third Sunday School : returning to Stonington in 
1815, she married Mr. Denison and began a Sunday School in 
M^'stic which was the first in that vicinit\% and it was attended 
by large numbers of people, who came from all around the town. 
She had decided views on temperance, and the following story 
is told of her: a traveller who stopped at her door said '' Madam, 
can you give me some cider? " to which she replied, that they 
did not keep cider for travellers. "Well, can't I stay over 

L.cFC. 



100 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

night here ? " " No, sir, we don't keep a pnblic house." "But, 
madam, you ma}' not know who I am, and the Bible says we 
must not forget to entertain strangers, for thereby some have 
entertained angels unawares/' "Very true, sir," she said, 
" but angels don't ask for cider.*" 

Mr. .John Deuison's granddaughter Prudence, lived in this 
house also, and was a very attractive young lady. She had 
many admirers and suitors, chief among them being Mr. Wil- 
liam Deuison, a distant cousin called wicked Will. One day 




HENRY iM. PALMER RESIDENCE. 



the minister, who was also charmed with ]\riss Denison, was 
stopping to dinner with the family, aad while asking a blessing 
at the table (which according to custom was more the length of 
a prayer) wicked Will passed the window, and by some trick 
of the eye, conveyed to Miss Prudence's mind, that he particu- 
larly wished to see her. It is quite evident that Miss Denison 
was not much impressed by the minister or his words, for slip- 
ping quietly from her seat at the table, she met Mr. Denison at 
the front door and stealthily they entered the best room, where 
they enjoyed each other's society for a good part of the after- 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 101 

noon. The minister, of course, upon lifting his eyes, missed 
the bewitching face of Miss Prudence, and later was informed 
of the cause of her absence ; meeting Mr. Denison the next day 
he expostulated with him, complaining that he had deprived 
him of Miss Denison's society and taken her from the table 
during his prayer. He was answered by Mr. Denison in scrip- 
tural language : "Sir, you must watch as well as pray." It is 
needless to say that Mr. Denison married ^liss Prudence and 
they lived in the Prentice Denison house which used to stand 
just east of the present schoolhouse in Quiambaug, where Mr. 
Henry Baldwin now lives; he also owned land which extended 
over Montauk Avenue. 

His son, Jonathan Denison, l)uilt the present house in 1745, 
which stands there today, so renovated and well preserved that 
one could scarcely believe that any part of it could be reckoned 
by centuries. This house originally stood on the opposite side 
of the road, a two stor}', gambrel roof, half house, but later 
Mr. Noyes Palmer, who married ]Miss Dorothy Stanton in 
1784, bought this land of Col. Oliver Smith, who lived there, 
and enlarged it by adding a half to the west side, making it a 
double house; his son, Dea. Noyes Palmer, also lived here, and 
still later it was moved across the road and reconstructed into 
its now modern style, by its present owner, Mr. Henry M. 
Palmer. The view from this hill can scarcely be described, 
but any one who takes the drive towards the Sound, seeing 
the blue Avater of the great ocean glistening in the distance 
and the beauties of distant hill and near-by valley, where 
Quiambaug Cove gracefully curves, now in, now out, be- 
tween its green banks, can but think, perhaps, living among 
all this God-given beauty may have had an uplifting influence 
upon wicked Will, for when about 60 years old, he became a 
religious man and abandoned his evil habits. His property, 
which had been put into the hands of a conservator, was 
restored to him, and he became prudent and exemplary, and 
was respected by his neighbors. No higher eulogy need any 
man desire. 



102 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 




JUDGE Cli.BERT COLLINS RI-SIDENCE. 



i^vi^L^v ^. ^>M^iii&. . 




|^^R'?BaBjjjll- . 


- *4 





AMES NOYES HOUSE. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 103 

The drive down ]\Iistuxet Avenue shows us the Old Borough 
of Stonin^ton, so situated reachino; out into Fisher's Island 
Sound, with Pawcatuck Bay stretching up on tlie east and 
Stonington Harbor on the west, that w-e can understand why 
it is called by the older inhal)itants "The Point", for it seems 
only a point of land reaching into the w^ater which flows far 
back upon either side of tlie village. At the foot of the 
eastern slope of Palmer's Hill, in what is now called Umphrey's 
Orchard, was once a hut built and occupied by two freed slaves, 
Umphrey and his wife, who lived and died there. They for- 
merly belonged to Mr. Thomas Noyes, Avho lived at the Harbor. 

There were many slaves here in various families during the 
first half of 1700, and many stories have been related of them, 
one of which was told l)y Thomas Noyes (father of the Thomas 
above referred to, who married Mary Thompson in 1731) of a 
slave named Jumbo, who belonged to him. One moonlight 
niofht he brought his coat to his mistress, and asked her to 
mend it for him, saying, " If you will, I will tell you Avhen 
Marsa Tom will come home." jNIarsa Tom was Captain of a 
vessel gone on a voyage to the West Indies, which was con- 
siderably overdue, and they were all feeling very anxious about 
him. She told him that she w^ould mend the coat, so Jumlio 
went out into the lot north of the house, and went through all 
kinds of antics : tinally he came in and said to her, '• Tomorrow, 
at one o'clock, you look off, and ^ou will see Marsa Tom's 
vessel coming," Sure enough, the next day at one o'clock, she 
looked off and sa.w the vessel coming outside the reef, beyond 
the Harbor at Stonington, 

Leaving Montauk Avenue, we tnrn to the left into a com- 
paratively new^ road, and come to another new old house, now 
owned by Judge Gilbert Collins of New Jersey, who comes 
Avith his family every summer to enjoy the beauty and health- 
giving vigor of hill and vale, cove and glen. This original 
structure was built by John llallam, soon after his marriage to 
Miss Prudence Richardson, in l(»8o, the land haviuor belonged 



104 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



to her brother, by gift from their father, and purchased by Mr, 
Hallani. It was afterwards sold by them to Mr. Charles Phelps, 
whose sister married Mr. James Noyes, and the property was 
held in that name till sold to the present owner, who has im- 
proved it and the grounds about the place. Within the front hall a 
glance above shows the winding staircase, even to the third 
floor, and in the long dining room the large fire-place and man- 
tel testify of age. Though remodelled and seeminolv almost 




NAT. NOV lis IK 



built anew, the old Hallam house underlies the present struc- 
ture, making this the oldest house in town. 

If one loves the water and enjoys the sight and sound of 
breaking waves and billows, let him visit the old house on 
Wamphassett Point just west of the village of Stonington, 
which faces tlie liarbor, and so near to the water that Avith 
closed eyes one can easily imagine himself "rocked in the cradle 
of the deep." It is an ideal liome for a sea captain and his family, 
of whom there have been many in this house to sail away over 
the ocean blue, and one of them, Captain Ben Noyes, born in 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 105 

1780, commanded a ship ruiiuing between New York and Italy 
for many years. 

This house was built by Mr. John AVhiting in the early part 
of 1700, who lived here when he was deacon of the Road 
Church in 1739. It is built a story and a half, with gambrel 
roof. The ground in front of the door nsed to be laid out in 
terraces of green banks which extended to the water's edge, 
while stone steps reached from one to the other, and old- 
fashioned roses bordered the walks. The interior is almost 
new, having been renovated by the present owner, Mr. Nat. P. 
Noyes. The cupboard in the north room, which was over the 
lire-place, with the little glass doors, has been taken away, also 
the panels and fluted columns on either side, which were there 
when it was bnilt. When the whitewashed plaster had been 
removed, some pieces of dark, rich, figured paper was discov- 
ered on the dark plastered room, which had evidently been 
brought from England, as no paper so elegant as this was found 
here in those early days. When the cupboard was removed, 
among the debris was found an Indian moccasin made of some 
kind of leather, with the sole turned up and over to form the 
upper covering, and then gathered with a leather thong over 
the instep. In the attic, securely driven into the ])lates of the 
house, was found an iron ring, supposed to have been placed 
there to fasten some person, slave or free, who was insane, as 
no asylums were then known where those thus afflicted could 
be protected. 

But a few feet north of this house nsed to stand another 
similarly built house, where the great-grandparents of the 
present owner lived in 17t)0, but it is not known who built it. 
]Mr. and ^Irs. Noyes died there at the great age of 92 and 94^ 
and lie buried near the water in a graveyard where also lie the 
Hallams and Whitings. This old house was accidently burned, 
taking fire from live coals in a pan of ashes which had been 
taken from the stove and set upon a chest while the occupant. 
Aunt Betsey, was out of the room, and in a few moments an 



106 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



old landmark had disappeared. The old farm house owned by 
the Ilallams once stood a little above here, but has long since 
passed away, and almost all knowledge of it also. The town 
records tell us that " in April 1751, Mr. John Whiting i)aid 
John Hallani £90 in old tenor bills for a quarter of an acre of 
land on the west side of the harbor, l)eing part of the land 
which Mr. Thomas Noyes, Jr. now improves." 

Near here on Darling Hill, most beautifully situated, over- 
looking Long Island Sound, stands the house now owned by 




SAMUEL DOUGHTY HOUSE. 



Mr. Samuel Doughty of New York, who has remodelled the 
Laugworthy house into a fine summer residence. This land 
originally belonged to the Hallams, and it is not known 
whether Dea. Samuel I-^angworthy bought or built the old house 
which stood here when he moved to it from the Lewis place at 
Old Mystic, but he lived here with his wife, who w^as Ethelinda 
Davis of Hopkinton, and the daughter of Joseph and ^NLiry, 
whom lie married in 179(3. Afterwards he moved to Stoning- 
ton and married, second, Lydia, daughter of Dea. Fellows. 
His son Henry took down the old house and built about it, 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



107 



living in various parts of it at the same time, until he had made 
a fine country house called the " Farmer's Palace/" 

On our way to Stouinoton,we pass the Graudison Chesebrough 
place, standing in a most beautiful spot overlooking the water, 
at a corner of the road near the Catholic Cemetery. It is now 
a most commodious barn, but the large gambrel roofed build- 
ing was once a comfortable home with a busy household. It 




CKANLISON BARX. 



was built by Mr. Nathaniel Chesebrough aljout IToS: he mar- 
ried Hannah Wheeler and second ^lary Ilallam ; they had a 
large family of children. Their son Enoch married Sally Shef- 
field and lived here, and their sou, Rev. Amos Chesebro, is now 
living at West Hartford, Ct. Mr. Nathaniel Chesebrough's 
youngest cliild was Grandison, who later owned this place 
where he lived till his death in I800, and the name of the 
Grandison house has ever since clung to the place. 



CHAPTER SIXTH. 

often I think of the beautiful town 

That is seated by the sea, 

Often in thought go up and ilown 

The pleasant streets of that dear old town. 

Strange to me now are the forms I meet 

When 1 visit the dear old town, 

l>ut the native air is pure and sweet, 

And the trees that o'ershadow eaoli well known street, 

Are singing tlieir beautiful song. 

— Lon<if(ll(>v. 

I iiin indebted to Miss Emma W. Palmer for much of the 
following chapter. 

In the village of Stonington, we find many houses a hundred 
years old and more. On the west side of Water Street we see 
the Capt. Nathaniel Palmer or Peleg Brown house, as C'apt. 
Palmer married the daughter of Mr. Brown in 1798, and came 
into possession of this house : he also owned the adjoining prop- 
erty on the north and the dock. At the time of the great Sep- 
tember gale, this large house was lifted from its foundation by 
the force of the waves, and one end of it dropped into the cel- 
lar. It was replaced by Mr. Samuel Chesebro's father and as 
there were no jackscrews or modern implements in those days, 
he lifted it gradually back into place by wedges. What an un- 
dertaking it must have l)een with such appliances. Peleg 
Brown was a ship builder and also a merchant, for in 1816 he 
was in Augusta, Georgia, and wrote to C. Billings, Esquire, as ta 
the price of cotton and tobacco. 

On the corner of AVater and Harmony Streets, we see the 
long, low house known as the old Dr. AVm. Hyde place, built 
by Rev. John liathbone, the first Baptist minister of the Ston- 

los 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 109 

iiiffton Church in 177o. Later he sold it to Dr. Hvde who 
married Rhoda Palmer in 1.S08, who lived and died here. He 
Avas the good doctor for every household and was sent for, 
no matter who was sick or what was the cause for wanting him. 
The Doctor would come in with a good deal of Ijluster and fuss, 
and sometimes with some good-natured profanity, and before he 
saw the patient or investigated the troul)le, he would call 
Nancy Brown to get the bowl and Ijandages necessary for blood 
lettino-, and then would follow the examination of the tongue 




CAPT. ALKX PALMER PLACE. 



and the operation of phlebotomy to the amount of a l)owl full of 
the fluid of which it is now considered so necessary to have a 
good supply. If the invalid had consumptive tendencies, this 
was considered a most important step, to get relieved of a sur- 
plus of bad blood from which the patient was suffering : this 
was followed by cojuous portions of calomel and julup, and if 
the person had a good strong constitution, there was perhajjs 
an even chance of recovery. Man}' stories are told of old Dr. 
Hyde and his wife, who was almost as good a doctor as her hus- 
band, but his brusque way covered a warm and tender heart. 



110 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



and though he scolded and scowled outwardly, the patient was 
sure of his help and s^'nipathj. This house has been altered 
but little, and the small office on the south side so long used by 
the old Doctor and his son is still there. This son, William, 
married, first, a daughter of Capt. Ephraim Williams, and sec- 
ond, Ellen Williams, daughter of Gen. AVilliam Williams, and 
she Ion Of survived iiim. 




DK. WILLIAM HYDE llOL'SK. 



The Polly Breed house is an old gamljrel roofed liouse 
standing at the west end of Church St. facing east. The front 
door was originally on the south side, and liad three very large, 
rough stone steps going up to it, but in the great gale these 
were lifted and carried some distance away. The house itself 
came very near being swept away, and after the gale had sub- 
sided the bowsprit of a large vessel lay on the west side of the 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



Ill 



ruof, where it had l)eeu driven l)y the force of the wind. Some 
sav it was forced right through tlie side of the house ; how 




I ^ IJKEED HOUSE. 



they got it off, history saith not. There is not much known 
about this house except that it is one of the oldest in the 
Borough, being built by Samuel Stanton and son Nathan, who 







W.M. IKKKEIT HOUSE. 



came over from Pawcatuck and went into business here. Pol- 
ly was daughter of Mercy Stanton and Prentice Breed, born 



112 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



1781, aud lived here many years. Her uncle, Nathan Stanton, 
was killed by falling from a haymow in the barn on the farm 
now owned by Mr. Sanford N. Billings. 

The present Wiliiinson home was once the William Terrett 
house, which will be seen by the picture to have the old-fash- 
ioned gambrel roof, and stood on Main St. a little north of 
Capt. Amos Palmer's, and on the old map of the village houses 
now owned by Dr. Geo. D. Stanton, it is designated as the 
Terrett house. It was bought by Col. Joseph Smith aud 
moved to Church St. between Main and Water on the north 
side, where it now stands. The family lived in it for many 
years till it was finally sold and passed out of the name. 




SAMUEL TRUMBULL HOUSE AS IT LOOKED IN 1850. 

In 1795 Samuel Trumbull, son of John Trumbull, printer, of 
Norwich, came to this village and issued the first number of a 
newspaper entitled ^' The Journal of the Times." The motto of 
the paper was " Pliant as reeds where streams of freedom glide. 
Firm as the hills to stem oppression's tide." He probably built 
his house soon after coming here, as most of his children were 
born there, so it was one of the oldest in the Borough, and 
stood on the southeast corner of Broad Street and Main, on 
rising ground, fully six feet above the level of the street. In 
front was a space of fifteen feet, or more, to the edge of the bank, 
which sloped very sharply to the roadbed on Main Street. Tlie 
large elm tree was not enclosed. It was a two-story frame 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 113 

building, with an ell on the east, having a shed roof which 
sloped almost to the earth, so that anyone standing on the 
ground could touch the eaves. In the year 1850 it showed no 
paint, but was just the old wood-color, and had a large, rough, 
stone chimney in the center, and was a '^ Relic of ye olden 
time." The house was taken down about 1800. 

Directly east and back of this Trumbull house, stood the old 
Meeting-house ; for years it was there in a pitiful condition, 
with its sash and windows broken out, its days of usefulness over. 
It was moved from Putnam's Corners, and put on this lot, 
])resented to the Society" by Charles Phelps, Esq., in 178-") or 
178(j. It was built by a lottery and by subscription, amount- 
ing in all to .£400. It w^as a good sized two-story, frame build- 
ing, and fronted to the west ; the space near the front was 
small, and there were two large boulders but a few feet from 
the door. It is said that its s[)ire or tower was the mark used 
as a target during the bombardment, the British thinking it 
stood in the center of the village, which accounted in a meas- 
ure for their shot going over and doing so little damage ; many 
shot are even now picked up in the swamps beyond. It was 
taken down in 1860, and the work of " The White ^Meeting 
House'' was finished. 

The old house standing opposite the Congregational Church 
belonged to Captain Lodowick Xiles, who married Elizabeth 
Stanton, Nov. oth, 1797 ; in February of that same year, he 
bought land at Long Point of Joshua Swan, with mention of a 
Ijaiu thereon standing, for £100 (now more than $300), con- 
taining about 3*3 rods. It was bounded by mear stones and walls 
and the southeast corner of Mr. Peter Crary's dwelling house, 
this ])eing the onl}- mark which might now be known, as the 
Crarys lived about this section of the town. Again in 1807 
Captain Niles purchased another lot of land of Bartholomew 
Hedding with a dwelling house thereon, among the boundaries 
of which is mentioned land lately owned by John Jetfords, 
Robert Palmer, "■ and the salt water." 



114 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



He seemed to lie a large laudholder, for mauy are the records 
showing land purchased from various people. In 1809 another 
deed from Joseph and Nancy Smith of Oxford-, Shenango Co., 
New York, for $275 sells one-half of an undivided lot of 
land and half of house, bounded west by Robert Palmer's land, 
east by Stiles Phelps' land, it being Jose^jli's and Nancy's share 
in the estate of Captain Joseph Eells, deceased, the other half 
belonging to Betsey Eells : and again we find a deed from .b)n- 



M 


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^B^^'JwfejP 




WtBtB^^^^Sr ~'~'-^ 


VKil 


^ 


k 


rnKKt- - 


^ 



CAPT. LOUOVVICK iMLES HOUSE. 



athan Phelps to Captain Niles of land l)ounded thus ; l)eginning 
at southeast corner of sd. Niles land, thence east and north by 
land Ijelonging to the heirs of Jonathan Palmer, north and 
Avest Ijy land of Captain Amos Palmer's, west and south by 
Joseph Smith's land, and south and east b}' Coddington Billings 
and Lodowick Niles," this deed being in 1811. This Captain 
Niles had a dauo-hter Charlotte, who, while attending school at 
the old Academy was killed l)y a stroke of lightning, as she was 



OLD HOMES IN STON^INGTON. 



115 



sitting between her two sisters during a severe thunder tem- 
pest. Another daughter, Eliza, married Mr. John F. TrumVjull, 
and came to this old Niles house to live, but she died in a few 
3-ears, and some time after Mr. Trumbull married the daughter 
of Joseph Smith, and still remained in this house, which is yet 
owned Iiy his children. 

The Dea. Elnathan Fellows house Avas situated just across 
the present railroad track from the old ISiles house, and was 
a quaint-shaped, gambrel-roofed building with an underground 
room and leanto at the back, built against a little rise of land. 
It w'as occupied for years by Dea. Elnatlian Fellows, whose 
■carpentei" shop was located where the Charles Brewster house 




-.^ 



DKACON FELLOWS HOUSE. 



stands. His daughter Lydia also lived here, and married first, 
^Ir. Samuel Lang worthy, and second, I\Ir. Samuel B. Chese- 
brough. ]Mrs. l^ydia was an earnest Christian worker and elo- 
quent in prayer and praise in the house of (iod. When she 
died her funeral was held in the old Baptist church, and upon 
that occasion ]Mr. George S. Brewster rose to speak in i)raise 
of the departed when he suddenly fell back and expired imme- 
diately. This old liouse was taken down some years ago, and a 
modern one now stands u[)on its site. 

The large, old-fashioned, double house standing on Water 
Street, with the store of Mr. Frardv Trumbull within, is the 
Jai)ish Holmes house : the lar^-e chimnev is in the center, with 



116 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



the stairs going up against it, as was the custom in these double 
houses. It received many a scar in the attack of 1814, and 
there is yet shown a large cannon ball imbedded in the chim- 
ney. Jabisli Holmes married Lydia Glift of Groton, and left 
three sons, of whom Jabish, the eldest, married Emmeline 

The old Cobb house stands near the head of the breakwater 
on Water Street, and remains very much as it was in 1814. 
It is low, Avith gambrel roof and the sloping leauto in the rear, 




lAKISH HOLMES HOUSE. 



and was shingled instead of clapboarded. It stood in the thick 
of the fight near the battery, and so has many scars received 
during the bombardment. At that time it was owned by El- 
kanah Cobb, l)ut has long passed out of the family name and 
possession. 

Captain Thomas Swan married Fanny Palmer, daughter of 
Captain Amos Palmer; she was born July 4th, 1776, and was 
very proud of the fact. They kept tavern, as it was then called, 
in a large house on the south side of the town landing for many 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



117 



years. In a little book entitled "The tour of James Monroe, 
President, June 28tli, 1817," it is recorded as follows by S. 
Putnam Waldo : " I am indebted to the politeness of George 
Hubbard, Esq. for this account. The revenue cutter, " Active " 
came to anchor with the sloop of war, "Enterprise," the New- 
port and Sew Haven cutters, about 3.80 P. M. A committee 
consisting of Messrs. Enoch Burrt)ws, Paul Babcock and George 
Hubbard were appointed to go out to meet him and in about 
fifteen minutes after, this conunittee ijreceded the barge of 




Ci'BIi HOUSE. 



the Chief Magistrate and his suite, Gen. Swift and Mr. Mason, 
and attended by Com. Bainbridge and Gen. Miller, under a 
national salute from the cutter, landed ; they were received 
with acclamations. Col. Randall and the committee, followed 
by his suite, escorted him through a double row of citizens, 
uncovered, to Captain Thomas Swan's hotel ; a salute was fired 
from the old eighteen pounder, that sent such terror and dis- 
may to the squadron of Sir Thomas Hardy, on the ever mem- 
oral )le 10th of August, 1814, and a very large concourse of 
citizens from this and adjoining towns uttered their s]iontane- 



118 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

ous welcome by three Jiearty cheers, which the President 
reciprocated by coming to the door and bowing right and left. 
Several volunteers who served at the bombardment were pre- 
sented and warmly greeted by the President, who congratulated 
them on their brave resistance. He afterwards visited the 
Battery or redoubt, then standing and also the arsenal. In the 
evening the President received the visits of a number of cit- 
izens and complimented them for their spirited defence of the 
town, and seemed much pleased with the town and its people. 
Upon the morning of the "28lh of June, he embarked on his 
favorite vessel, the Enterprise (that has compelled a barbarian 
Corsair to strike her colors), and left our shores for Rhode Is- 
land." 

This house was remodelled about 1882 or 1833, owned and 
occupied as a dweUing house by Gurdon Trumbull, who mar- 
ried the daughter of Capt. Swan. It was during this occupancy 
that it was burned down, ^ly mother often showed me the 
room which President Monroe occupied, and the high post bed- 
stead, with its formal hangings, in which he slept, was pre- 
served there until the tire. This house was burned in the large 
conflagration that destroyed all that part of the town. Airs. 
Swan used to love to tell about the attack and of her burying 
a large crock of June butter (ratlier than let it fall into the hands 
of the British ) in her asparagus bed, and on her return, look- 
ing for it in vain; for she had either forgotten just where she 
put it, or some one had spirited it awa}', she never knew exact- 
ly which. It was from Capt. Swan that the powder used in 
his vessel, the "Halka," was obtained, when all other anuuuni- 
tion had given out and the guns were about to be spiked ; this 
probably saved the place from destruction, as soon afterwards 
more was brought from New London. 

Mr. IT. Clay Trumbull also tells us the following: From a 
window in this same house I sAw President Jackson and Vice 
President Van Ikiren pass through the streets of the Borough. 
When they visited this place, they were coming from the site 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



119 



of the Old Battery and tliouoh only a little chap, I cau recall 
the stately form and bared head of "Old Hickory " as lie then 
a})peared. It was later, that Pres. Tyler visited the Borough 
and took breakfast at the Wadawaniick Hotel and also visited 
the site of the old Battery. Dr. Geo. E. Palmer, Warden of 
the Borough, said to him that an appropriation from the Gov- 
ernment was greatly desired to repair the Arsenal, and to pro- 
tect the two 18 ponnders, which kept off the British in 1814. 
At this Pres. Tyler (who was called " ( )ld Veto ") said laugli- 




[OS. UKU.,111' HOUsK. 



iugi}-, as I well remember, " Well, I tell you what 1*11 do ; if 
Congress will vote you an appropriation, I promise not to veto 
it." 

The Joe Wright house stood just south of the Jabish Holmes 
house, and was used for tenements for man}' years, going by 
the name of *' The Yellow Kittens " probably on account of its 
color. It has now l)een moved down near the end of the point, 
where it stands, very much altered from its original shape when 
]\Ir. Wright lived in it. He was a sea-faring man, and married 
Miss Lucy, sister of Peleg Hancox. 



120 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



On this same street, and near the " AtwootVs Works," stands 
the Caj)t. William A. Fanning house, where he lived after his 
marriage with Miss Juliet Palmer, and here their daughter, 
Mrs. Bradford, lived as a child. Capt. Fanning was a brave 
man in the war of 1812, and was a sea captain, for in 1819 he 
was supercargo of the Brig Hersilia, on an exploring and seal- 
iug voyage, when Capt. Nat. Palmer, his brother-in-law, was 
mate. Also, in 1820, Capt. Nat, only twenty-eight years old, 
went from Stonington in a side-masted sealing vessel of only 




FANXING HOL'SE. 



forty-live tons into the Antarctic Ocean seeking new lands. 
He did discover an island, which is the most northerly point of 
Antarctica, and which has l)een named in his honor, " Pahner 
Land." 

Capt. Amos Palmer's house, called in later years the Old 
Corner House, was built by Amos Palmer, the 5th in descent 
from Walter, in 1787, on the very spot where the original house 
which was burned down, stood. It is very large, roomy and old- 
fashioned with tlje chimney in the center, like most of tlie 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON, 



121 



houses of that day. The chimney as originally built was im- 
mense, the foundation of large stones and the rest of Dutch 
brick, which when taken down, in later years, not only built 
the three chimneys that took its place, but there was enough 
left besides to almost pay for the new ones. In the old chim- 
ney in l)oth kitchen and the room above, were the large, old- 
fashioned fire-places, where it seemed as if a cord of wood 



.^ 



'/ill 










CAPT. AMOS PALMER S HOUSE. 



could be put on at once, and the large brick oven and huge 
crane with its pot-hooks were also there. 

A century ago they built the chimney, and then if there was 
any room left they built the house around it. The huge back- 
log was often brought in by two men and a horse, and was the 
last care of the house-wife at night, when she raked carefully 
together the live coals, placed the live brands against the back- 



122 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

log, and covered all with ashes to be ready for the moruiug. 
On this depended much of the comfort of those days, Avhen 
the weather was severe, for if the fire went out it was almost a 
calamity, as then recourse had to die made to the tinder-box, 
steel and tiint, or a messenger sent to the nearest neighbor for a 
shovel full of live coals. So we see the necessity for carefully 
securing this all important back-log. Within these large fire- 
places, were often placed benches for the comfort of the 
delicate, and the dye tub was also kept where it would not 
freeze, and on this the old darkey servant would sit, as much 
at home as anybody. The rooms are all large and have the 
corner posts covered ; the entry was originally small, with the 
stairs going up against the chinuiey, turning on themselves, l)ut 
it was all altered by Dr. (leorge E. Palmer. 

In trying to make some alterations in the cellar the corner 
stone was accidentally knocked out, endangering the whole 
house, so that it had to be taken down and the vacuum which 
was left, attracted mauv onlookers. Staudino- as hiah as it 
does, this house has many marks of the bombardment in 1810; 
one shell struck the roof and went through to the cellar and 
was taken out by the tire patrol l)efore it did any more dam- 
age. It also went through Grandma Palmer's cliina closet, 
where she kept all her precious India china, and what had not 
been sent away was ground to powder. The ceiling still shows 
the results, as the plastering never has stayed up properly 
since. 

Captain Amos was sitting in his front door the afternoon of 
the attack, when a caunon ball struck a stone wall to the south 
and the stones flew in every direction, breaking out almost all 
of the window panes on that side, and there are pieces of stone 
now in several of the panels of the doors, imbedded by the 
force of the shot that went past the old gentleman, out through 
the door, the wind of it almost upsetting him, and being spent, 
fell across the street. When it was cool enough he went over 
and picked it up, and took it down to the Battery on the Point, 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 128 

and asked if he might send it back with liis compliments to the 
British, as it had done him a hundred dollars' worth of damage, 
so they pnt it in the old eighteen pounder, and let him fire it 
off; he saw it strike one of the barges and then went home 
satisfied. Captain Amos was a prominent man of his time, and 
filled many important offices in the town. He was chairman of 
the committee of safety, and the letter which he wrote to the 
Secretary of War was most highly complimented as being so 
accurate and concise. He had a large family of sons and 
daughters, and the old house was always noted for its hospi- 
tality and good cheer, through the past century. 

One of the amnsiug events which took place in it, in Dr. 
Palmer's time, was the marriage of an old negro, named Cuff', 
to one of the house servants. Mr. Gurdon Trumbull, .Justice 
of the Peace, married them, and many of the friends and neigh- 
l)ors of the family were invited to the festivities and to see the 
fun ; by the time Captain Gurdon got through the old darkey did 
not know whether he was married or what had happened to 
him ; he was so confused between the wit of the Justice and the 
good cheer offered tlie guests, and was glad to beat a reti'eat, 
followed by his blooming bride. It was an event long spoken of 
and laughed over by the participants. In the south })arlor have 
been many notable weddings, one of which was quite an affair ; 
that of Captain Charles Phelps to Miss Ann Hammond, a niece 
of Dr. Geo. E. Palmer; the wedding was a great event for those 
days, and in after years the bride often pointed with pleasure 
to the spot where she stood to have the knot tied. Many dis- 
tinguished ].)ersons have been entertained in this old home- 
stead, among others. Major and Mrs. Whistler and their two 
boys, since so famous as artists (consins of Mr. Donald Stanton, 
who has so kindly drawn the pen and ink sketclies here in- 
cluded), and when ]\Iajor Whistler went to Kussia to build the 
St. Petersburg and Moscow railroad, he left his family here 
with Dr. Palmer until he could send for them to join him. 

In later days it was the scene of many gay and happy times, 



124 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



aud its old-fashioned tea party in 1857, the first of its kind, is 
still remembered with pleasure by those who were entertained 
or took part in it. The whole countryside was ransacked for 
old-fashioned things, furniture, pictures and spinning wheels ; 
even the supper was composed of all the old-time dishes that are 
now mostly a thing of the past ; some of the guests came on 
pillions, some in ox-carts with high-backed chairs for seats, and 
it is safe to say thev all had a good time. Stonington was at 




COL. OLIVER SMITH HOUSE. 



its best in those days, and its many pretty girls is one of its 
proudest traditions. In one of the grates in this house was 
burnt the tirst hard coal brought to this village ; it was con- 
signed to Captain Francis Amy, but his chimney hadn't enough 
draft, or for some reason he could not make it burn, and was so 
disgusted with it that he sold it to Dr. Palmer, who used it 
successfully. Dr. I*almer lived here and kept up the family 
traditions of hospitality and good cheer: he was also one of the 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 125 

leading physicians, and held many positions of trust in both 
Borough and town, dying in 1868. 

Across the street, and a little above, is the Col. Oliver Smith 
house, a lo'.v, story and a half, with its gambrel roof and dormer 
windows. It was built by him in the spring of 1701, when he 
moved here from Groton, C't., where he was born and lived in 
the first house which was built there in l()5o. Col. Smith was 
a fine looking man, fully six feet tall. He was a ship builder, 
and carried on quite an extensive trade with the West Indies. 
His wife Avas a descendant of Captain George Denison, and 
they had a family of sixteen ciiildreu of whom one was named 
for George Washington, who used to call upon Col. Smith, and 
was there soon after the birth of this son. Another sou, Ed- 
ward, w^ho married " King '' David Chesebrough"s granddaugh- 
ter, Elizabeth Grant, lived on the corner of Water and Wall 
streets, about where the Ocean Bank now stands. His son, 
Alexander, married, and lived in this house of his grandfather's 
on Main Street, now owned l)y the Collins family. 

Col. Smith owned a few slaves, one of whom was Venture, 
whose history, printed in 1798 and related by himself, is very 
interesting, and is in part as follows : he was an African slave, 
brought into this country at eight years of age, wholly desti- 
tute of education, but became the owner of himself and wife 
and several children. He accumulated considerable property, 
and was a man of striking ingenuity and good sense. He was 
born in Guinea, in 1729, his father being Prince of a tribe hav- 
ing three wives, as polygamy was common in that countrv. 
Venture was the oldest .child, and was named Broteer: his an- 
cestors were very large and strong and measured six feet tall. 

On account of his father marrying his third wife without 
tlie consent of his first and second, his mother left him. taking 
her three children Avith lier. Broteer, being five years old, 
walked by her side, while she carried one on her back and the 
other in her arms. As long as they travelled they ate of the 
fruits of the laud, and after walkinsf for five davs, she left Bro- 



126 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

teer with a rich farmer, who put him to teuding sheep; after 
being there a year, his father sent for him and brought him 
home, and soon after their couutr}^ was invaded by a numerous 
army of 6000 men, and although they paid great sums of money 
and gave them many cattle and sheep to leave them in peace, 
which they had had for many years, the old King had to surrender 
and the women and children were haltered and led to camp. 
Then they tortured his father to make him tell where his money 
was, but he refused, and tinally died. 

Immediately after, they marched all the prisoners to the sea, 
and Broteer was made waiter to the leader of the company. On 
the march the}^ overcame and took possession of every tribe 
they encountered, until, as they neared the sea, with strength 
and provision nearly spent, an enemy attacked them, took all 
prisoners and put them in the castle for market. Soon after 
the leader took l^roteer and several others in a canoe and rowed 
to a vessel belonging to Kliode Island, commanded by Captain 
Collingwood, with Thomas Mumford as mate. The steward 
of the vessel was one Robertson Mumford, who bought iiroteer 
for four gallons of rum and a piece of calico, and called him 
Venture, on account of his having [)urchased him with his o\\ n 
private venture ; thus he came by his name. All the slaves 
bought for this vessel's cargo were 260. 

They sailed for Barbadoes, and small-pox breaking out, sixty 
died before they reached port, so they sold all the rest to the 
planters there, except Venture and three others. These sailed 
to lihode Island, and he went to his Master's home on F'isher's 
Island, where he was employed mostly in the house carding 
wool and other household duties for four years, and then other 
and harder tasks were put upon him, all of which he performed 
faithfully, and his history contains many events of his life there, 
both interesting and heartrending. After being there thirteen 
years, and being twenty-two years old, he married Meg, a slave 
of Mr. Mumford's, and at the close of that year he was sold to 
Mr. Thomas Stanton, 2nd, wdio resided in Stonino'ton and who 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 127 

married Sarah Chesebrough fir.st, and second, Mr.s. Sarah liil- 
liard Fish ; thus A'enture was separated from his wife and 
daughter. He had earned considerable money in various ways, 
and about a year and a half hiter, JNIr. Stanton purchased his 
wife and child for him at £700 old tenor, but not long after 
they had a falling out with their mistress, which occasioned so 
much dissatisfaction that he was sold to Mr. Hempstead Miner 
of Stonington for £5(3, who soon decided to sell him ; so Ven- 
ture buried his little hoard of money in the road over which 
Mr. Stanton passed daily, and Mr. ^liner carried liim to Hart- 
ford and offered him for sale, but finally pawned him for £10 
to i\Jr. Daniel Edwards, who after finding him honest and 
trusty, as his waiter, furnished him with a horse to return to 
his wife and children, who were at Mr. Stanton's. They uot 
being pleased to see him, \enture immediately went to Col. 
Oliver Smith's : iNIr. Miner had not settled with ]\Ir. Stanton 
for him, but had given Col. Smith a bill of sale before his re- 
turn from Hartford. When these men met to decide Avhich 
should hold liim, as Ven'ture wished to live with Col. Smith, it 
was agreed that he should, and he took upon himself, tlie name 
of Venture Smith. He had always been very anxious to })ur- 
chase his freedom, so Col. Smith consented and Venture took 
his little hoard of money out of its hiding-place in the ground 
and ])aid it over to him, and by doing extra work (although 
one quarter of tliis extra he paid over to Col. Smith), in five 
3-ears he had earned his freedom money, £71, 2 s. which he paid 
Col. Smith, who then liberated him although it lacked £1-), IS s. 
of the full sum of his redemption. He soon after left Col. 
Smith's and sold all of his possessions in Stonington and went 
to Long Island. 

Mr. Thomas Stanton still owned his wife and two children. 
Solomon and Cuff, but A'enture purchased them and his ohlest 
child Hannah, also three colored men; with these he had in later 
years varied experiences of grief and disappointment. At sixty- 
nine j^ears he was broken down with anxiety and trials, his eye- 



128 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



sight was impaired so that two of his srandchildren had to lead 
liini al)0ut. He had been a wonderfully strong man, standing 
six: feet, one and a half inches in his stockings, and being able to 
carry a barrel of molasses on his shoulders for two miles. He 
could lift a tierce of salt holding seven bushels and carry it 
several rods ; also on the Davis farm can be seen the " Venture 
stone," which was easily carried several yards by hnii, but which 
now requires the united effort of two ordinary men to lift. In 
many respects Venture was a wonderful man. He owned a 




CAPT. EUMUM* KANMM.. ilcJi:>E. 



house and several acres of land in Stonington. On Long Is- 
land he bought a house and two farms. After he went to East 
Haddam, he worked for Timothy Chapman and Abel Bingham 
and bought sixteen acres more of land on which he Iniilt a 
house. He owned twenty boats, went tishing, clamming, raised 
watermelons and in every Avay acquired property. He was tem- 
perate, honest and industrious, and worked more hours in his 
life than many men who live to be a hundred years old. He 
was buried at East Haddam, where he died. 

On this same Main Street in the village, which was laid out 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



129 



from Stonington Harbor to the Town of Prestou in 1752, a lit- 
tle above Col. Smith's house on the other side of the street, is 
an old cambrel-roofed house, which has l)een improved and 
modernized by its present owner, ]Mr. Davis, so that the front 
of the house does not show its age ; but passing through the 
ffate and ooino- aiound to the rear, you see the little leanto 
with the tall chimney and the sloping roof which easily distin- 
guishes the house of more than a century from the modern one. 
Here, as nearl}' as can be told by the oldest inhabitant, Capt. 
Edmund Fannino- lived in this large, old-f;ishioiied, double 




DK. lord's HAI.L. 



house, with great rooms on either side of the small hallway, the 
stairs o-oinsr up asrainst the chimney and turning on themselves. 
It has the high wooden mantels and the large stone chimney in 
the center, with its huge ovens. Captain Fanning was a ship 
builder, and in lcS22 built the Hydraspy and Almyra. 

Dr. Lord's Hall was made by Dr. Lord during a great revival 
when dancing was prohibited by "the powers that were" in order 
that the young people might have a place where they could 
trip the light fantastic toe, if they so wished : he tore out the 
inside of the second story of this house and put in a new spring 



130 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



floor and fixed it for a hall, the whole length of the build hig^ 
Mr. Frank B. Nojes's mother often told him she had been there 
to dancing school, as a girl, with many others of lier time. It 
was used for this purpose for many years until modern ones 
took its place. The first Stonington Band used to meet here 
to practice, and to such good effect that its music is yet remem- 
bered with pleasure, by those who heard it. The instruments^ 
were hung around the walls and when the Episcopalians in 
1847 hired it for their first services while the church was being 
built, they were left hanging as the band left them after their 




-XI M .\1AK\ 111 J\\ E UOI .-^b,. 



practice on Saturday nights, and with their gay ribbons the}' 
made quite an effective background. This hall, having served 
its purpose, has since been turned into tenements and much al- 
tered from its original shape ; it still stands on the corner of 
Main and Harmony Sts. 

Dr. Lord's house was a large, comfortable old liouse, which 
stood on the corner of Main and Union Sts., and w\as long 
owned and lived in by the Lord family. It was afterwards the 
home of that loved and honored elder of the Baptist church, 
Dr. Albert G. Palmer, for many years, and was moved over 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 131 

Oil tlie marsh to make room for the New Baptist Church 
now standing there. Aunt ]\Iary Howe's house was built by 
her father, George Howe, who lived and died there ; she used 
to say that he was so long in building it, that part of it was 
practically never finished ; this part was rented for a bakery at 
one time. This house is one of the few left just as it was built, 
and is quite a curiosity in its old-time simplicity, with its large 
old fire-places and high narrow mantels. It is now owned by 
Mrs. Sarah Noyes, one of her descendants, who thinks veiy 
much of it, and will not sell to any one. It is kept in good re- 
pair and was used as a village library, after Miss Howe's death, 
until the handsome Free Library was built in 1899, by Mr. 
Erskine Phelps and Mr. Samuel D. Babcock on Wadawanuck 
square. The old liljrary was visited by many sti'angers, as it 
was one of the sights of the place, with its granite shaft on the 
corner surmounted by a bombshell thrown in here at the time 
of the bombardment. It was erected to the memory of George 
Fellows, one of the defenders of the town in 1814. These 
now stand on the Little Park in the center of the Town Square 
with the two old eighteen-pounders on either side of it, so dear 
to the hearts of the villagers, for the good they have done. 

On the corner of Main and Grand Streets stands the mansion 
which Col. Joseph Smith built in 1800, a large, finely constructed, 
square, double-hipped roof house with two leantos, one on either 
side, at the rear. There are three windows on the east side 
both in the upper and lower rooms, and the woodwork 
near the eaves, under the jetting is very beautifully carved by 
hand, and the same work is over each window. The front door 
is handsomely made, with oblong panels of wood, and a curved 
piece at the top set in with glass in an iron frame. The brass 
knocker, handle and latch are always polished like gold, aiid 
two long, fluted columns are on either side of the door, while 
about a foot away on l)oth sides are two similar fluted columns 
which extend the height of the house : surmounting the whole 
is a pointed frame work set with little ol)long panes of glass, 



132 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



Within, the rooms are wainscotted, and deep cornices show this 
house to have been built in a niore elegant manner than most 
houses in 1800. 

Here, in 1S19. occurred a wedding of much interest, when 
the oldest daughter, Miss Nancy Smith, married Mr. Alexander 
G. Smith ; the two families were not related, thongli of the 
same name. Mr. Smith's home was in the Borough where 
he was clerk of the Probate Court for several years. He studied 
law with Judge Coddiugton Billings and kept a store and liad his 




■'i-.i 11 .N.Mlill > IlLi.MLsTEAD. 



office over the store. He was also very active in defense of 
Stonington. At their wedding, a large number of invited guests 
came, sixty being at the house to partake of the wedding sup- 
per. The next da}- a large sail boat was seen coming into the 
harbor, bringing a band of music ; this proved to be Captain 
Lee and a party of friends from New London, who were on 
their way to call upon Mr. and Mrs. Smith and bestow the cus. 
toniary congratulations. This happy affair was long remem- 
bered in the village : Mrs. Smith lived only a very short 
while and died at the age of twenty-six. 



OLD HOMES IN STONIXGTON. 



133 



Tlie large double house standing on ]\Iain Street, opposite the 
Col. Joseph Smith mansion, was built In' the sons of Rev. 
Nathaniel Eells, as he had a large family of children. The two 
youngest sous were married in 1785 and 1789 and lived here 
together, in the greatest harmony, using the one long kitchen 
and one fire-place, while one wife sanded her part of the floor so 
as to know her limitations. The Rev. Nathaniel came to live with 
them about 1785 and died here. About fifty years before this, 
he had been settled at the Road, and aljout that same time 




■■^ssc. 



EELLS LIOUSE. 



the '' (jreat Awakening" was felt in this region. He was the 
pastor who invited Rev. Geo. Whitefield to preach at the Center 
Meeting-house. Later Mr. Eells preached at the Academy 
every Sunday afternoon, until the Point pe()})le [)etitioned for a 
church of their own. 

Although quite an old man, he went to Roston on the break- 
ing out of the Revolutionary war, to helj) defend the liberties of 
his country, and lived to see them assured ; his descendants 
lived here for many years. The house is still owned l)v the 
heirs of Mr. Samuel D. Babcock, and occupied by Mr. and 



184 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



Mrs. Robert Palmer, who are each descendants of Benjamin 
and Joseph Eells. In the early part of 1800 the house was in- 
habited by B. F. Babcock and wife, w ho lived on the north side, 
while Mr. Enoch Chesebrough and wife lived on the south side 
till 1819, when Mr. Chesebrough moved up to the Grandison 
farm house. It is but little changed from the original, having 
the large rooms on each side, and small entry with stairs mak- 
ing the usual turns and landings; the wooden shutters, the 




VA.MUEL DENISON HOUSE. 



large oven, fire-places and high wooden mantels are the same as 
of old, while the window saslies and small panes of glass are 
still to be seen. 

Up the hill, from the Col. Smith house is the Samuel Deni- 
son homestead, built by the Rev. Hezekiah Woodruff after he 
w^as installed in 1789 at the Road Church, which was then 
called the Mystic meeting-house ; but his house was not finished 
when he left his parish in 1803. Then Mr. Stiles Phelps, son 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 136 

of Dr. Charles and Hauuah Deuison Phelps, bought and reno- 
vated it in fine style, to suit his ideas. He had been abroad (a 
rare thing in those days) and was much pleased with the terraced 
gardens he saw there, so he arranged this ground in terraces as 
they are now, and made it the finest place in the Borough. He 
failed in business, however, and about 1811, Mr. Samuel Deni- 
son bought the whole place, extending on the south side to the 
Charles Phelps place (which is the Capt. C. P. Williams house) 
and north to the east road ; the railroad cut through his land 
on the north, and the Episcopal church stands on the land to 
the south, where also a street was cut through ; on the east the 
large schoolhouse now stands, and Mr. Eugene Atwood's house 
which was built by the Kev. Samuel Denison, Secretary of the 
Board of ^Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church of New 
York, and sold by his heirs to the present owners. 

This fine old mansion stands on quite liigh ground, very 
nearly as it was 100 years ago, and is much admired for its old- 
fashioned charm. The large chimney and fire-places, the 
wooden shutters with the small panes of glass are still there ; 
it also has on the top, around the chimney what used to be 
called "The Whale Walk," where one could go to watch for 
the incoming seal and whale ships, and is the only house now 
in the village which can boast of one, but in Nantucket and 
other seaports they are very common, though in this case it was 
only for ornament. 

The front entrance was at first on the north side, and the 
present hall, is where Rev. Hezekiah had his study ; in the wall 
b}- the stairway are three cupboards where he used to keep his 
books ; the posts of the balustrade are of mahogany, the doors 
still have the old style brass knobs, and many pieces of beauti- 
ful Chippendale furniture are to be found here. Mr. Denison 
had a large family of children, and five beautiful daughters grew 
to womanhood and married! It was always noted for its hospi- 
tality and social life, and many distinguished people have been 
entertained here. Sometimes the house was full, even to the attic. 



136 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



"where two large rooms were finely tiuished off, for the aeeom 
modation of those who must necessarily move nj), when the intinx 
of ixuests heeanie great, and the change was hailed with delight, 
as the view from the third-story windows is very tine, overlook- 
ing the waters of i>ittle Xarragansett Bay. 

The Jonathan Palmer house was built hy him originally 
where Dr. C. E. Brayton's drug store now stands; he was the 
first postmaster here and collector of the port. It has been 
moved back of the Zebulon Stanton house where it now stands, 




rohmax norsE. 



and is a large double house, owned for a long time by the Rod- 
mans, but that family having all moved away, it was sold by 
them to Mrs. Geo. Rogers of Boston, and is now owned by Dr. 
Brayton. When it was being moved he found a very large 
oven in the cellar, as well as two large ones upstairs, and it was 
supposed to have been built originally for a tavern. 

It also had a tine large garden in connection witli it, laid out 
in terraces. It may be interesting in this connection to know 
that the Stouingtou Post Oftice was organized in 1792, and 
Col. Jonathan Palmer, son of Jonathan and Prudence (Holmes) 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



137 



l^almer, was the first postmaster, and liis coniiuissioii was from 
Thomas Piekeriiiir, postmaster general. He was also the first 
collector and surveyor of Stoninijton, and his commission was 
signed in 1791 by George Washington as I'resident, and 
Thomas Jefferson as Secretary, while his commission as naval 
officer was signed by Matthew Griswold, Governor of Connecti- 
cut. He married in 1782, Miss Lucinda Smith, and died in 
1810 at the age of (34 years. In April, 1812, his widow sold a 
tract of land at Long Point to Lodowick Niles, whic-h was 
bounded by land of Capt. Amos Palmer. 







ZEBULON STAN'ION HOUSK. 



The letter in reply to Timothy Pickering is still in the hands 
of Dr. George D. Stanton and herewith transcribed. 

" Stoningtou, Jan. 22 A. D. 1793. Sir, Your letter of Nov 
last inclosing my Commission as Deputy Postmaster at this 
place with blanks and instructions and a key for mail all came 
to hand, and were acknowledged in a letter of mine to you the 
11th of Dec. last enclosing my bond and Certificates of Otiice 
and Oath, also my opinion, which you have pleased to ask, re- 
specting an office in Pawketuck. Have since received no letter 
or information from you. 1 opened ye Postoflice agreeably to 
your instructions on ye 1st day of Jan. inst. and have since had 



138 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



some difficulty in forwardinir the letters and packets directed to 
other places on acct. of the Mnmfords not having received orders 
from you to call at this office. I conclude there must have been 
some miscarriage of letters, respecting the business and doubt- 
ing whether mine to you of ye 11th Dec. has been received. 
It has caused me a very perplexing anxiety of mind. I there- 
fore request, Sir, that as soon as your business will permit, you 
will inform me whether my letter above referred to has come 
to hand and give any further instructions which you now may 




ELDER SWAN HOUSE. 



judge necessary. T am Sir, with sentiments of esteem, Your 
iriend and very humble servant. Signed Jonathan Pahiier, 

Still above on Main Street is the Zebulon Stanton house, 
which was built by him al)Out ITTG, or at the time he was mar- 
ried. It faces the Park and has verv large beautiful elms 
before the door, which also testify of age. The house is large, 
and the ell at the right with its two large show windows full of 
small panes of glass, was formerly a shop where Mr. Stanton 
worked at his trade as silversmith. The front entry is small, 
with tlie winding staircase and beautifully hand-carved bannis- 
ters still to be seen. The house yet belongs to, and is occupied 



OLD HOxMES IN STONINGTON. 



139 



by, descendants of tlie Stanton fannl}^ On the south-east cor- 
ner of Wadawanuck Square, which now surrounds the " New 
Library,'' once stood a hirge house called " Yol'k's Hotel," kept 
in 1799 by Joseph Davis, who married Esther Denison ; after a 
few years he removed " Up Country " and was succeeded at 
the hotel by Mr. Oliver York who kept the tavern. 

Elder Swan's house, which used to stand just back of the 
Congregational Church, is now located on the Westerly road 
nearly opposite Mr. Ryan's stables, and is altered into a 




ELDER ELIHU CHESEBROUGH HOUSE. 



double tenement house. It is a large, s(puire building, Avith 
shingled sides, and looks very much as it did when ^Nlr. Joshua 
Swan lived there before 1790, and his son. Elder Jabez Swan, 
was born there. He, later, became a noted Baptist preacher, 
and many are the words of wisdom and witticism that are even 
now attributed to him. 

As you drive up the hill on this same street, where so many 
beautiful houses have been recently built, and towards the \e\- 
vet ]Mill which has lately made its home here, bringing so much 
of busy life and cheerful faces among us, we see the old home 
of Elder Elihu Chesebrouoh, the ell of which is the remaining 



140 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



part of tlie Enoch Stanton house which was carried there from 
tlie Road in 1800. It is hirge, sqnare and wood-colored, some- 
what worn by age and the elements. Tlie view from the door 
is well wortli tlie little trip off from tlie regular drive ; the blue 
waters of the ocean, shining clear in the distance, while Watch 
Hill and the nearby islands are distinctly seen. Elder Elihu, 
who lived here, was born in 17i]9; he was a good man, an or- 
dained minister, and preached in the Baptist Chnrch in the 
Borouofh for twenty years, and also at the Anguilhi Meeting- 




nUDLEY I'ALMEK HOUSE. 



house, and continued in his good work, preaching at Weqnet- 
equoc, at the old schoolhouse, when he was nearly eighty 
years old. He married his second wife ( Mrs. Mary Fish, wid- 
ow of Elisha) at the age of 79 years, and died when he was 99. 
The Dudley Palmer house is the original homestead, built by 
Elijah Palmer in the latter part of 1700. His son Dudley 
married a Chesebrough and lived here for many years, and the 
house retains the name of the family who so long occupied it. 
At this place Rhoda Palmer was born in 178(5, and afterwards 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



141 



became the wife of old Dr. William If yde. The house is large 
aud double, still in good repair, and i)ear.s its weight of years 
right gracefully. It faces on Ehn Street, and is now owned by 
the Dewey family. 

The Billino-s Burtch house formerly stood where Mr. Pelesf 
Hancox built his hue new house on Water Street, but about 
1850 it was moved from there to the corner of Water and 
High Streets by ]Mr. Ezra Chesebrough, who purchased it and 
placed it where it now stands. It was some three feet or moi'e 
above the road l)ed, with its yellow front door facinof south, 




l'.lLl.l.\G=i bLKlCll HOL>E. 



the approach to which was by some rambling stone flags, or 
slabs, al)out four or live inches thick, and placed as they were 
l)roken out with neither form nor comeliness. At one tin;e the 
house was tenanted by George Howe, who was sexton and tithing- 
man at the old Baptist Church, aud at another time 'Siva. Elias 
Gallup, sister of Mrs. Ezra Chesebrough, lived there and had a 
millinery store. According to an old letter found, Mr. Billings 
Burtch died in this house aged ninety-two years. 

The Thomas Burtch house is now standing, as it has for 
many long years, brown and weather-beaten, but looking sunny 



142 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



and quaint with its front and side doors but a few feet apart, 
and the immense stones at all the entrances, as also in the founda- 
tion, make it noticeable as an old landmark. Mr. Burtch's son, 
Capt. Thomas was for a long time a sea-faring man, and later 
kept a store on the corner opposite the present news office of 
Mr. George Haley, where the children used to delight to peer 
into the show windows at the various dolls, toys and the 
glass jars of bright colored candy sticks, lemon balls, pink and 
white kisses, and large peppermints to be seen there. 




IHOMAS BURTCU HOUSE. 



Another one of the pretty old houses in the village is the 
Richard Eldred house, located on the corner of a street known 
to some as the " Lost corner on the Irish Channel." Its corner 
door, though looking very like the old "Toll house" doors, 
is yet one of the modern improvements within a few years. 
Little is known of its age or occupants, but could the history 
be told it would undoubtedly be found most interesting. It is 
remembered by some of the oldest people that long ago Uncle 
Jimmy Stanton, an Englishman and rope-maker, lived here. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



143 




RICHARD ELDRED HOUSE. 



Opposite this at the north, stands the story and a half lioiise 
which many years ago belonged to a Mr. Fowler, who was a 
hatter; as he became old and infirm, he wished Mr. Samuel 
Chesebrough, Jr., to purchase it, which he did, and afterwards 
his daughter married ]Mr. George Ashbey, or Neighbor Ashbey> 




A-^IIBKV IIOL-SK 



144 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



as he was familiarly called, aiul here they lived and died. It 
is now owned l)y Mr. August Muller. 

Further down on Water Street we come to the lar<>-e high 
house huilt many years ago; for in 1TT2 Esq. Nat. Miner had 
iiis lawN^er's office here in the upper story, while Aunt Honor 
States had a store below, where she sold dry goods, light gro- 
ceries and fruit. Esquire Miner was a bailitf and quite a terror 
to the small boys, who, when he appeared, would disperse like 
dew before the sun, especially if they had congregated with a 




II Wll.l. .\li M.K III II ^\i. 



spirit of mischief or undue hilarity on Fast Day or upon Sat- 
urdays at twilight, wlien all work was sup[)Osed to be finished, 
and the Sabbath begun. 

The next house below the cross street is the old Amos Shef- 
field home, a large two story structure, with two flights of 
winding stairs, which lead to the front door above. It was 
I>uilt before 1788, and later, his daughter Sally married Enoch 
S. Chesebrough, and resided there, and Mr. Chesebrough kept a 
variety store underneath on the north side of the house. Here 
in the northwest chamber above. Rev. Amos S. Chesebrouofh, 



OLD HOMES IN STONITONGN. 



145 




ACORS SHEFFIELD OR CAPT. B2NJ. PENDLETON HOUSE. 

now living at Xew Hartford, tivst saw the light of day over eighty 
years ago. Mr. Simon Carew married the widow of Mr. Amos 
Sheffield, and kept a store underneath on the south side of the 
same house at the same time. 

The house which stood nearly opposite the Peleg Brown 
mansion Avas a low, gambrel-roofed house, occupied by Acors 




\M' 1^ -IIKFI IKLD HOUSE. 



146 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

Sheffield about IToO, whose daughter married Benjamin Pendle- 
ton. It was his father who sailed from Stonington in ISIO 
and was never heard from. Their daugliter, Cassandra, mar- 
ried Thomas Swan, and their descendants have resided in this 
same house till they sold it to Dr. C. O. ]Main, who removed it 
and built anew. 

The Widow Luke Palmer's house is one of the old landmarks 
althouQfh none of the older residents seem to know wlien this 
house was built ; still it is known that Mr. Palmer married Sallv 
P. Denison in 1804, and they lived there. She used to board 
the men connected with building the Stonington Railroad, 
Mr. Almy, Mr. ^Matthews and others, about 1835. The house 
has been so added to and improved that but little of the origi- 
nal can now be seen. It was owned by Mrs. William L. 
Palmer, and her heirs sold it to Mr. Henry Davis, wliose heiis 
sold it to Miss Emma A. Smith, and in 1901, the Roman Catho- 
lic Society purchased it of her. At various times three clergy- 
men have lived here: Rev. M. W^illey, first Pastor of Calvary 
Church ; Rev. R. S. Wilson, Pastor of the Baptist Church, and 
Rev. A. (t. Palmer, who was so long the good minister of the 
Baptist Church. 

George Swan married Abigail Randall. He was a son of 
John Swan, wlio married Lucy Denison ; his son Roswell, who 
was born at the place now called " The Highland Farm '' mar- 
ried Harriet F. Palmei-, daughter of Capt. Amos Palmer by his 
second wife. He studied under Hezekiah Woodruti', pastor of 
the Congregational Church in Stonington, who fitted him for 
college, and he entered Yale, graduating in 1802, with a class 
who subsequently became eminent and distinguished men. He 
was called to Norwalk, Connecticut, and there died ; his widow 
survived him many years and lived on Main Street in a house 
since moved, situated just above that of her father, Capt. 
Amos Palmer. She lived there until the marriage of her 
daughter Harriet to Nathan F. Dixon, when she went to 
Westerly, Rhode Island, to live with them. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



147 



The Elijah Palmer house stood on the southeast corner of 
Main and High Streets, and was taken down by the late Moses 
Pendleton ; the, ell, which was used as a store and afterwards 
as a school, was moved to Water Street, near Mr. Oscar Pen- 
dleton's store where it still stands, sometimes used as a little 
store. Elijah was the father of .Mrs. William Hyde, Sr., who 
was two years old when he moved into it. Mr. Gurdon Trum- 
bull also lived in this house for a while, aud here our esteemed 




THE MORRILL HOUSF:. 



townsman, Rev. H. Clay Trumbull was born, and here also, 
Mr. Giles Hallam lived for a while. 

The Morrill house is now situated near the livery of Mr. 
Theo. Wilcox aud used as tenements, shorn of all its glories of 
olden da3s. It was originally one of the finest in the Borough, 
owned by Capt. Benjamin JSlorrill, who was a merchant in the 
West India trade. A large hall ran from front to rear, Avhile 
the stairs went straight up to the hall above, and had a handsome 
newel post of mahogany. It stood nearer the water at the time 
of the great September gale, and part of it was carried away : 



148 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



the father procured a boat and rescued part of the family while 
the mother, nurse and baby crawled into the big brick oven to 
await his return ; but before he could get back, they were all 
swept away, although finally rescued with great difficulty. In 
one of the large rooms upstairs was a staple in the floor securely 
fastened, where an insane member of the family was chained, 
as there were no asylums in those days. The brave Hulda 
Hall, who stayed so faithfully beside her dying mother, at the 
time of the battle, lived here the latter part of her life, and it 
is said that Capt. Fanning also resided here at one time. 




dilliii . 




mr% m 



CAPT. JESSE HEKBE HOUSI.. 



The Capt. Jesse Beebe house stands on the corner of Higii 
and Gold Streets, an old house, yet no authentic record as to 
its age can be given. This Capt. Beebe was for many years 
master of a Packet running from New York to the Borough ; 
he also had charge of " Eel grass shoal" light-boat. The latter 
part of his life was spent as a Pilot on the old Stonington line 
of steamers. Capt Joshua Pendleton bought the property and 
lived here until his death, when the house was sold to the 
present owners. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



149 



The old and aucient looking gambrel-roofed house, standing 
on Water Street, shows in many ways the marks of age, but it 
is not definitely known who was the builder. At one time, 
many years ago, I'^ncle Jimmy Clark, father of Mrs. George 
Brewster, kept a bakery here ; and later, Capt. John Barnum 
resided here. Witliin thirty years it has been raised to the 
present height and new ovens put in underneath, for a bakery 
which has been used for many years, by Mr. Isaac N. Fair- 
brother. 




bAlRHROlHEK HuLSK. 



Dr. Charles Ph3lps' house which stood on ^lain Street, was 
built by him, when he moved down here from the Phelps place, 
north of the Borougli, in the latter part of 1700. This was a 
fine old mansion, standing back with a lawn reaching to 
the street. It had a ball room made with a spring floor 
for dancing, and was a fine specimen of the homes of that 
date. At the foot of the lawn Avas a little ofiice, afterwards 
used by Squire Hubbard, wlio married Dr. Phelps' widow, and 
lived in the house until it was moved by Capt. Chai-les P. 
AVilliams into Harmony Street, where it now stands large and 



150 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



square, even more imposing than the picture represents, but 
now shorn of all its glory and made into a tenement house. 
Where it stood formerly, is now the tine residence of 
Mr. Charles N. Wayland, known as the Capt. Williams 
place, the main body of which was moved from Water Street, 
and [)laced there by Capt. Williams and added to, making a 
tine appearance from the street. He was also for many years, 
engaged in the whale and sealing trade, and had many ships on 
the water: one of them named the "Betsey Williams'"' was 
built at the " Kiln Dock" just south of his garden. 




I'llhl.l's UUI M-.. 



The Waldron house, standing now near the " Atwood 
Machine Works," was built in 1788 by Jonathan AValdron, 
and Avas one of the few, at the lower part of the town at the 
Point. It had always remained in the family until sold about 
1886. Mr. Waldron came with his brother, Nathaniel, to Ston- 
ington in 1776 from Newport, Rhode Island, where he was a 
merchant, and had many vessels in those waters at the time the 
British took possession of that place. ^Ir. J. C. Waldron of 
New York says that he built this house after a copy of one in 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



151 



Newport, and it was the tirst house built in Stonington, with a 
good sized hall, and many people came to see it. Also in the 
dining room is a large " dresser," with sliding glass doors, 
which formerly stood in the parlor. The house w^as badly 
wrecked in the battle of 1814, and there are yet many evidences 
of broken beams and places where the shot came through the 
walls. A grape shot made a hole through one of the panes of 
glass, cutting it perfectly round, as if done wdth a knife, and 
without cracking the glass. For many years, this was (piite a 




THE WAI.DKON HOUSE. 



curiosity, and w^as always guarded and cared for until it was 
accidently broken about 1875. My grandmother felt so badly, 
she sat down and cried at tlie loss. 

Mr. Jonathan Waldrou married Lois Denison; they had 
several children, of whom George, died in the war of 1812 in 
the Privateer with Capt. Ben Pendleton. Another son, Jona- 
than, died in Stonington, and left a legacy for the '' Poor of the 
Boro." The brother Nathaniel married Susan Palmer, sister to 
Dea. Simeon, and their son Nathaniel, who married in Phila- 
delphia, was the father of the present Waldron family, who 



152 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



occasionally return to visit in Stonington where their ancestors 
lived over 125 years ago. 

The old windmill and house built in 1774 on the west of the 
Point and north of the lighthouse, cost £10, which was raised 
by a company. This was afterwards moved away, as it could 
not compete with the water power mills. The liouse stood 
there till within a few years, with rough stone steps leading up 
to it and a ^vell by the side of it ; wlien this was torn dowai, 
the gambrel-roofed one now standing on the Point, was moved 
there by Asa "Wilcox in 1816. This year was so cold that no 
vegetables could be raised, for there was a frost every month. 

Edward and John Denison, son and grandson of the ship- 




JOHN DENISOX HOUSE. 



builder George, of Westerly, built the first house in the Borough 
in 1752, on the Town Square, or Landing, as it was then called. 
It stood where the Gurdon Pendleton house now stands, and 
was a tavern for many yeai's. It was built especially for the 
farmers, who came to sell their stock and produce to those en- 
gaged in the "West India trade, which was quite profitable at 
that time, before the Pevolution ; the amount of their goods 
was usually returned in rum and molasses. That same year 
he built the first wharf at the foot of the street and continued 
the "West India trade in which he had been engaged in Pawca- 
tuck. The house was afterwards occupied by Mr. Giles Hallam, 
and was burnt in the great fire of 1837, the family hardly 
escaping with their lives. After the fire, one of his descendants 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



153 



built the house uow owned by Mr. Ira Paliner. The view of 
this house is taken from an old sketch in the possession of Dr. 
Geo. D. Stanton. 

The Capt. Keene house was formerly the Tom Wilcox house 
built by him; INIr. Wilcox's daughter Fanny married Capt. 
Keene and they both lived and died there; it was sold a short 
time ao;o, and moved over on the marsh, and in its place is the 
fine store belonging to Burtch and Co., druggists. TheDenison 
Chesebrough house stood on the corner of Union and Main 
Streets and w^as formerly occupied by Dr. Nathan Palmer who 
moved here from Wequetequock and built this new house. It 
has now been moved to the east part of the Borough. , 




JOSHUA HALEV HOUSE. 

Opposite the Howe homestead, stands the house of the late 
Joshua Haley, much changed from the original gambrel-roofed 
low house which the older residents remember. Here lived 
Mrs. Remembrance Miner for many years; she was a Goddard 
of New London, sister to Mrs. Amos Sheffield : her husband 
was Nathaniel Miner second. He lived only a short time after 
their marriage in 1795 and died, leaving two children, Rev. 
Nathaniel, wdio went to Salon, and Harriet, who married Peleg 
Willnir of Little Compton, R. I. He was lost at sea, and after 
a time she married the Rev. Mr. Dawes, who also taught 
school. They left this house for a time, and while away Mr. 
John Terrett's family lived here. Mrs. Dawes came back and re- 
mained here till quite an old lady, when she went to her broth- 



154 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



er"s in Salem and died there, and this house became the property 
of Mr. Joshua Haley. 

Just below the late home of Capt. Joseph Smith stands the 
low orambrel-roofed house owned in the latter part of 1700, by 
old Mr. Thomas Ash, who was a ropemaker. His daughter. 
Miss Selina Ash, kept a school here which Avas attended by 
many of the older inhabitants of the Borough. This house 
was purchased by Mr. Gurdon Trumbull, with the land about 
it, and was moved from where the Capt. Smith house now 




IHii.MAS ASH HOUSE. 



stands, which Mr. Trumbull erected, and where he lived till 
he moved to Hartford. Mr. Daniel Hobart also lived at the Ash 
house for a time, and it is now owned by Capt. Thomas Scholfield. 
Where the Potter Block now stands was formerly the site of 
Rev. Ira Hart's large, double house, with its long ell and 
garden at the west. He built this house soon after he was in- 
stalled as Pastor of the first church at the Road, in 1809. He 
had been preaching as supply for four months in North Ston- 
ington, just before coming here, and before that had been active 
in missionary work in Pennsylvania and New York state, and 



[old homes in stonington. 



155 



was always eager in promoting all religious work. During his 
twenty years stay here, he preached at the Road in the morn- 
ing, and in the village of Stonington in the afternoon ; he baj)- 
tized 288 people and married 148 couples. He was also Chap- 
lain of Col. Randall's regiment, and was at the bombardment of 
Stonington in 1811. 

The story has been often told of the young Englishman, 
Thomas Powers, who was killed by one of our crew at that time, 
and liis body brought ashore and buried at the village cemetery. 
Rev. Mr. Hart preached the customary sermon, which was so 
affecting that many an eye unused to weep was dimmed by 




HART HOMESTEAD. 



falling tears. The next year, the father of Mr. Powers came to 
Stonington, and finding ]Mr. Hart told him that he had '' come 
expressly to see the spot where his only son had been buried,"' so 
Mr. Hart went with him as far as the gate of the cemetery, and 
waited there while the stranger sought out the grave ; we can 
imagine what deep emotion stirred his heart, and how unre- 
strained the tears that fell. Today we ma>' visit the same spot 
and see the monument which was erected to his memory by his 
fellow officers of " Iler Majesty's Ship, Superb,'' while we drop 
a tear for this English bo}- who lies alone among strangers in a 
foreign land. 

j\Ir. Hart's zealous lal)ors tasked his strencjth overmuch, and 



156 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

his health failed him about tiie time his^new meeting-house 
was built, which was the present one at the Road. He was ex- 
pecting to preach the sermon, on October 29th, 1829, when the 
house was dedicated, but on this very day, the pastor Avho had 
been untiring in all religious work, ]ay[]at death's door, and 
before the services of the daj' had begun, he l)reathed his last, 
aged 58, having been born in 1771. He married Maria Sher- 
man of New Haven, and his oldest child. Dr. David S. Hart, is 
remembered by manj- yet as a wonderful mathematician and a 
teacher who fitted many of our young men for college in this 
very house which has been taken down since his death. 



CHAPTER SEVENTH. 

" We may build more splemlid liabitations, 
Fill our rooms with paintings and with sculptures, 

Rut we cannot 
Buy with gold the old associations." 

Coming up from the village, leaving several line residences 
behind us, and past the " City of the Dead," we come to the old 
home of Dr. Charles Phelps, who came to Stonington from 
Hebron, Connecticut, and built a house at the foot of Cosaduc 
Hill, which is now in Xortli Stonington. He moved his family 
here about 1765, and built a house which is the ell of the 
present fine residence, still belonging in the family and known 
as the " Phelps place." He was a distinguished physician. 
In ]Miss Perkins' book, she describes him " as a fine, round, full- 
formed man, very handsome, of courteous manners, dressed in 
fashionable style, flowing ruffles from his bosom and ruffles 
over his hands, exceeding fluent, and an agreeal)le talker". 
He was the first Judo;e of Probate in Stonington in 1767, 
having for his clerk then Paul Wheeler, and during the thirty- 
three 3'ears which he held this office, he had many other clerks. 

He had a large family of children, flfteen in number; his daugli- 
ter, Hannah, at the age of seventeen, married Judge Andrew 
Huntington of Norwich, a widower nearl}" twice her age. Miss 
Perkins also describes her as a " young hidy possessed of tlie 
beauties of mind and person in an eminent degree." She was of 
a much more lively nature than her husband and was always a 
ofreat social favorite from the time, "when as a jolly, young girl 
of fourteen,'" she sticks her compliments into a letter from Jon- 
athan Bellamy to Aaron lUur, to later days, when she impresses 
Mrs. Sigourney with that elegance of form and address which 

157 



158 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON, 



would have been conspicuous at any foreign court ; she was es- 
pecially fascinating to the children who visited her, by her 
liberal presentations of cake and other pleasant eatables, and 
her readiness to lend fine books and pictures. Young girls con- 
fided to her their joys and sorrows, sure of an appreciative 
listener. The bill for the wedding finery^ of Mrs. Andrew 
Huntington is still preserved and ma^' be interesting at this late 
date. 




DK. CHAKLKS PHEI.I'S I lOl'SK, 



Charles Phelps, Esq. 



Ajnil 1777 



To William Hubbard, Dr. 



To 20 yds. Brocade at 46/6 
8 1/4 yds. Lute string at 21/ 

7 yds. Blown lace at 9/ 
Do. Thread Lace at 5/4 
25 yds. Trimming at 1/6 
6 yds. Wliite Rrbbon at 3/ 
1 pair White silk gloves 



46/ 


10 





8 


13 


3 


3 


3 





2 


13 


4 


1 


17 


(i 





18 





1 






£64 


15 


1 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 159 

Her husband, Judge Huntiugton, carried on the business of 
a merchant and Mrs. Sigourney says of liini, that he was of })lain 
manners and incorruptible in integrity and tlie weight of his 
influence was always given to the best interests of society". He 
received his title from the oftice of Judge of Probate which lie 
held for many years. 

Dr. Phelps* son, Joseph, married and lived at tlie I'helps 
place, while his father after tlie death of his first wife, moved to 
Stouington and lived there with his second wife, who was Sally 
Swan ; she survived him and married i\lr. George Hul)l)ard in 
1809. Mr. Joseph Phelps' oldest son, Charles, Avho married 
INIiss Ann Hammond of Newport, Rhode Island, lived here, and 
added the present large front to the house about 1827 and 
made otlier improvements. This place has been the scene of 
many pleasant occasions, one of which was the marriage of Mr. 
Frank Babcock, brother of Mr. Samuel D. Babcock, to Miss 
Phebe Swan, who was a cousin of Mr. Phelps, and immediately 
after the wedding they sailed for Europe. 

^Ir. Charles Phelps was a very kind friend to thejiooranda 
liberal benefactor, and it was indeed a sorrowful day in Stou- 
ington, as well as in his own family, when it was known that he 
was one of the victims of the steamer " Lexington,"' Avhich 
was burned on the night of January 17th, 1840, on her usual 
trip from New York to Stouington. His nephew, Mr. Charles 
Noyes, Avas with him and was also lost. Mr. Phelps left a 
widow and two children, one of whom, Mrs. Eugene Edwaids, 
has always resided in her father's house, and has also followed 
in his footsteps in regard to liberality, of which the Road 
Church has been one of her beneficiaries, as the many gifts 
which are in the Ladies' Parlors can testifv. This house of 
Mr. Phelps is situated in a most delightful spot, and here Mr. 
Erskine Phelps, for years a prominent business man of Chicago, 
a son of ^L-. Charles Phelps, and now the present owner, lias 
returned to still further beautify the home of his ancestors, 
where from the shaded verandah of this mansion he can see the 



160 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



glistening waters of Lambert's Cove and enjoy much of nature's 
loveliness. 

Further up the road is the old Jesse York house, standing a 
little back from the highway on the brow of a hill, near the 
present parsonage of the Road Church. This house was built 
about 1775 a large, square structure with the usual big stone 
chimney. It commands a fine view of ocean and country round 
about, also Watch Hill, the popular summer resort, shows 
plainly in the distance. Dr. Charles Phelps owned this place 




VOKK PLACE. 



at one time, and Mr. Jesse York bought it after him, and his 
daughter IS'ancy married Mr. John W. Hull in 1801, whose 
son Jesse owned it, and now it belongs to liis son, Mr. John 
W. Hull of TenaHy, New Jersey. 

Coming down the driveway again, we cross the road and fol- 
low a deep rutted cart path through a gate and into a pasture, 
where wending our way for some distance beneath the droop- 
ing boughs of forest trees, we come to a most picturesque spot, 
which was once one of the business centers of the town, for 



OLD HOMES IN STOXINGTON. IGl 

here aaus the okl grist mill, built b}- Mr. Nathaniel Fellows avIio 
married in 1737, Hopestill Holdredge and put up this house 
and mill here. Mr. Fellows had a family of thirteen children, 
one of whom, Lydia, married Mr. Nathan No3'es, and their son 
Nathan used to tell about the mill there, which was run by an 
immense oyershot wheel, that stood nearly as high as the house 
beside it. A long wooden trough, led from the dam, a few 
rods north, to the wheel and Mr, Noyes, when a boy, used to 
run up this flume and open the gate at the dam and then, turn- 
ing, would race with the water, running the length of the flume, 
and jumping off before the water caught up with him, which 
was an hairbreadth escape. Afterwards this mill Avas sold to 
Dr. William Lord, who came here from Lyme, and he sold it 
to Mr. Charles Smith, who also run the grist mill liere. The 
place is now OAvned by Mr. Sylvia. 

Still continuing our wny to the west, on this most delightful 
path, wliicii winds in and out, among the hills and yalleys in a 
most fascinating manner, we come out into the public highway, 
where turning to the north we drive for a short distance, when, 
if one delights in a most charming view, let him go through the 
gate, which leads to Mount Pleasant on the old Indian land, 
known as Chenango, and here after following the Avinding path 
Avhich is constantly ascending, you see a house toAvering above 
you, so close to a broad flat rock, that from below it seems to 
form an immense stone doorstep. 

To climb the hill and go upon the piazza, is the work of a 
fcAv moments, but when it is accomplished, the sight reveals to 
even the most uninterested observer, one, if not the most 
l)eautiful, panorama in the Avhole town of Stonington. To the 
north are the dense Avoods, which are ever varying in their hue 
and beauty, while at the south lies the village of Stonington, 
the harbor Avith its shipping, the many farm and summer houses, 
and nearer by, the various lower peaks of rock and land, where 
Avith no great stretch of imagination, Ave can see in the near 
future, more new houses for the city people, Avho continually 



162 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



find in our town, that which delights the eye and brings rest 
to the world weary ones. 

This farm was originally Hallam land and later passed into 
tlie hands of ]Mr. Amos Denison, who built the house : after 
him, ]Mr. Eugene Edwards and wife, with ]\Ir. James Noyes 
owned it, of whom Mr. Francis Noyes purchased it for his 
parents, who lived there with him till their death. It was 
then a one story half house with the large chimney, "deep oven 
and hip'h mantel so conniion in those days. Since then it has 



Wi 


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Is -^ 


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i 


^^m 


fe 


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Hnr 


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4. 


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.l^>» •y.-Sf?*'p3fiB5 


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■ .■■■■ 



MOUNT PLEASANT. 



been enlarged and was occupied by Mr. Francis Noyes and his 
family till about 1870 when he sold it, and it is now in the 
possession of Mr. Denison Palmer, 

But a short distance north of ]\Iount Pleasant, stood the first 
Haley house in town, and an old well now marks the spot near 
the site of the old home. John Haley, Avho married Priscilla 
Fellows, sister of Lydia, built his house on the bridle path, 
which runs from the Fellows Mill to Dr. Gray's house, and not 
far from there it stood, facing the south, a gambrel-roof, lialf 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



1G:3 



house, with tlie old stone cliimney at the eud ; now only the 
cellar and a few apple trees mark the spot of this old home- 
stead. Below here but a short distance, was also the old Zebu- 
lou Chesebrough house which was low, with sloping roof in the 
rear. It was occupied afterwards by their sou E/ra, who was a 
Major in the Eighth Regiment at one time ; here he lived until 
his death in 1878. The path can now be traced through these 
woods, past Avhere these old houses once stood, and is a most 
delio^htfnl one in summer, leading to what is now known as 




CKAKY HOUSE. 



Sylvia's Mills, about which are most beautiful places for picnics 
in summer, and the pond affords a grand skating place in winter. 
There are numerous Wheeler families in Stonington, who 
can claim Thomas Wheeler of Lynn Mass., as their ancestor. 
He came here with his wife Mary in 1067, and their graves 
are found now in the " White Hall "' cemetery. Though his 
will was destroyed at the burning of New London, we know he 
owned land, which extended on either side of the road from the 
late Robert Wheeler's house in North Stonington to the "Town 



164 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



Farm" here, with the exception of the Hyde and Billings 
places, which were ov/ned l)y tlie Stantons and jNIiners. His 
homestead was built in 1673, on the very site of Col. James 
F, Brown's house. It was a double, two story, wood-colored 
house, very low between joints and was taken down seventy 
years ago. 

The large, square, white house near the roadside, a short 
distance ])elow, was built and owned in 1748 l)v Xathan Crary, 
a descendant of Peter Crarv of (iroton. When -he died J\Ir. 





• m-"c''-': 


M • 


: '• 




•4;-." 




f 












i -ii^^^^K^^^' 


1^ 




fjf^^^^^tp 


V||^^^^HHHH&' •■- jBBteajflw 


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^^^jiT 



SAMUEL WHEELER HOUSE. 



Latham Hull bought it and his son Amos, lived here. Later 
his half brother, Col. John W. Hull owned and sold it to Mr. 
Benjamin Hewitt, who after occupying it for a few 3'ears sold it 
to Mr. Burrows Park. At the time when it was occu})ied l)y 
Mr. Crary and family, they owned a number of slaves, among 
whom Avas one called Jinny, whose Bible, brown and worn, 
under date of 1784, is still in existence, belonging to Richard 
A. Wheeler. She was emancipated a few 3'ears later and when 
Mr. Crary died, she went to the home of Mr. Lester AV heeler, 
where she remained till her death. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTOX. 165 

Another Wheeler house stuiuls m excelleiil condition, but ii 
short distance south of this, which was built by Mr. Josepli 
Wheeler, near the close of the Kevolutionary Avar and while he 
was in l)altle at " White Plains," New- York, where he was dis- 
charged and came home to occupy it. At that time it was a 
one storv half house, the east side l)eiiig built then and the 
west })art added later. Wlien it was owned and occupied by 
their son Samuel and his family about 1840, tlie house was 
raised another story. The white oak tree in front, was then 
but about six or eight inches in diameter, but now the house 
stands under the shadow of this grand old tree which has be- 
come tlie largest oak tree in the whole town, the circumference 
being about fourteen feet. This house is now more than a 
hundred and twenty- five years old. It is occu})ied by the fourtli 
generation of that same farail}- in direct descent and owned by 
]Mr. Nelson Wheeler, 

Driving down tlie })leasant, shady road a few rods, past an- 
other Wheeler house of a later date, on the east side of the 
road we come to the spot where once stood the .Joseph Denisou 
house. This !Mr. Denison was son of George and jNIercy ((ior- 
ham) Denison, who lived at Westerly, Rhode Island. This 
w^as a large two story house and after two or three genera- 
tions of Denisons had occupied it, Mr. Latham Hull Sr. bought 
it and gave it in his will to his son Jeremiah, who lived there; 
it was sold by his children to Samuel and Jonathan Wheeler, 
who rented it to various families, among them Mr. Nathan- 
iel Noyes, Mr. Dudley D. Wheeler and Mr. Orsemus Smith, 
who was a blacksmith and his old shop still stands a little east 
of tlie present house of Mr. Joseph Wheeler, where he wrought 
in all kinds of iron work : Ijeside shoeing oxen and horses lie 
made hoes, scythes, pitchforks, and steel traps for catching 
otters and beavers. He was an ingenious mechanic and worked 
at all kinds of smithery. Joseph Denison's sou, Dea. Joseph, 
had a sugar mill until during the Kevolutionary War, on his 
farm (the present ISIoss place) which was operated l»y horse 



166 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



power, where sweet cornstalks were ground and the juice 
boiled down for molasses and sugar, as it was almost impossi- 
ble to buy any, because of the British blockade. 

A short distance off the road, at the right from this old house 
long since gone, stood, till a few years ago, the house of Mr. 
Elisha Williams, though later owned by Mr. Prentice Wheeler. 
Mr. Williams built it in 1740 and married Tliankful Denison 
for his tirst wife ; she lived but a very short time, and he mar- 
ried second, Eunice Williams, third Esther Wheeler, and fourth 




ELIoHA WIILIAMS HOL'SE. 



Mrs. Eunice Spalding Baldwin. His daughter Eunice, by his 
third wife, Plsther Wheeler, was a young lady who had many 
admirers and she also possessed a mind and will of her own, 
probably inherited from her father as the following story will 
show. He was very desirous of seeing her united in marriage, 
to a man of his choice, which was evidently contrary to her own 
desire, as she had previously become acquainted with Mr. Isaac 
Denison and had come to the conclusion, in her own mind, that 
he and no other should l)ecome her liege lord. One day her 
father desired her to be at home to his friend and suitor, and 



OLD HOMES IN STOlS'INGTON. 167 

that she should be, he lucked her into her room ou the second 
floor and went away feeling sure that when he desired her 
presence he should know where to find her, but " Love laughs 
at locks " and when ^Ir. Williams went to bring his daughter 
to meet his desired son-in-law, she liad flown, having jumped 
from the window and fled through the woods to the home of 
her uncle Richard Wheeler, where she safely remained for a 
time, till her father's wrath was appeased. After a while Mr. 
Denison's claims were established and they were married in 
1773 when she was only eighteen years old. 

Later this place was made quite famous by the making of 
counterfeit money; three men, who lived one here, another at 
the Hull farm and the other at the present Hyde farm, l)ecame 
acquainted with a Fienchman who understood the art of coun- 
terfeiting silver money, so the}' commenced operations here. 
The die Avhicli they used was long afterward found in a Ijarn, 
some distance from here, where it liad lieen hidden in the hay, 
it was about a foot long, and three inches wide and had places 
for cutting quarters, halves and whole silver dollars. The first 
quantity of this money which they used, was sent to the West 
Indies to purchase different articles, which came safely to hand 
and so they again ventured and taking their money they all 
went to Coventry, in Tolland County, where they purchased 
cattle with it. 

They had bought (luite a number and had started for home : 
when getting as far as Hebron they put up at a Tavern over 
night. The next morning, two of the men started for liome, 
leaving the other to settle the bills, but he became so provoked 
at the inn keeper for charging such high rates for l)oard and 
lodo-ino-of themselves and stock, that after much discussi(m, he 
threw the silver money, witli some violence. ui)on the counter, 
when one piece rolled off and struck upon the stone hearth, 
breaking into three pieces, which showed the tavern keeper that 
he was taking l)ad coin and when the man turned and fled, they 
were convinced that he was knowinirly guilty. Before they 



168 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



reached home all three were overtaken and arrested, brought 
back to Hebron and bound over for trial, and nine hundred 
dollar bonds were given for each to appear in court at Hartford; 
they were finally released by a friend, who gave bonds for 
them, which they afterwards paid. 

A short distance below this Williams house, used to stand 
the house occupied by Aunt Zerviah Holmes, who was the 
nurse at all the homes round about and whose kindly, beaming 
face was always a welcome guest. She was a wonderful 




LE'^IEK WUEiOI.EK HUME. 



woman, left at an early age in life, a widow with children, and 
almost entirely dependent upon her own exertions, she suc- 
ceeded in rearing her family, all of whom have been a credit to 
her in their career through life. She is yet living with her 
son in Stonington and has recently celebrated her 97th birth- 
day. The small, low house in which she lived was reached by 
several steps leading down to it, and when you entered, a world 
of wonder and delight seemed to open to the childish heart, for 
everything was there in abundance to form a real home. 

It was built by David Lester, who married Priscilla \\'il- 



OLD HOMES IN STOMIXGTON. 



lt)9 



liains on laud belono-ing to her, and they came there to live in 
1718 ; afterwards their onlj^ child Pri.scilla J^ester married Jon- 
athan Wheeler, and their eldest son Lester Wheeler married in 
1774, when he was seventeen years old and built the present 
one story house in 1773, which stands at the roadside with the 
sloping lawn, protected l)y its white fence. It has been rebuilt 
within the last forty years, but the underground room is still 
there which was formerly a weave shop, and after a time old 
black Jinnie, previously owned by the Crarys, had her home in 




liEO. CL'L\'ER llOU.Si:, 



this room. Aunt Jinny used to carry *' liarbs "' about among 
the neighbors and prescribe for the sick. 

Just at the southwest of here, was at one time a coo[)er"s shop 
where casks and barrels were luade. This Mr. Lester Wlieeler, 
Avas the greatest mathematician of his day about here and many 
were the intricate [)roblcms, which came to him, by the hand of 
yir. David S. Hart, who was a private teacher in the Borough, 
and these Mr. Wheeler solved to the amazement and delight of 
the students of that age. Mr. Wheeler married Eunice liailey 
and their son David married and lived here, whose son William 



170 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



lived and died here, leaving the place to his widow and chil- 
dren, the present owners. 

Mr. Lester Wheeler had a son William, who married 
Wealthy Turner, sister of Aunt Hannah, the noted school-mis- 
tress of a century ago. He built the story and a half, wood- 
colored house in 1801), which still stands on tlie corner near, 
upon a little hill, partly hidden by pine trees, but yet they do 
not obscure the view of the surrounding countr}-. Here have 
lived manv families : Mr. Jeremiah Shaw, Averv Wheeler, Clark 




WHEKI.ER SCHOOI.HOUSE, OLUhST IN TOWN. 

N. Whitford and Jonathan C-hesebrough who sold it to ]Mr. 
William F. Wheeler, of whom it was })uichased ])y Mr. George 
Culver, the })reseut owner, a few years ago. When this house 
was raised, the scholars at the school house a little farther to 
the east, which was built in 1799, were dismissed bj- the teacher. 
Miss Mary, daughter of ^Ir. Warham Williams, that they 
might go to the " Raising," for in those days it was considered 
a great event to raise a house. 

The interior of tliis schoolhouse, has remained the same as it 
was when it was Iniilt, till within the last ten vears, when mod- 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 171 

ern chairs were placed therein. How vivid it all returns to 
mind, the old, high desks with heavy planks for seats, while in 
front of these was the low, plank seat for the little children, 
the teacher's heavy desk, Avith lid that opened and lifted up, 
sometimes hiding the teacher's face for a moment, much to the 
delight of the children. The old box stove in the center of the 
room, set in its wooden frame filled with ashes, the long pipe, 
held in place with wires, the water pail with its always rusted 
tin dipper, set on the low seat near the door that opened into 
the entry, wliere in the north end tlie wood used to he })iled so 
high, that at recess the children who were especially daring 
and mischievous, would climh up on the wood and go overhead, 
where in the darkness, still as a mouse, the}' would hide away, 
till summoned down peremptorily, hy the teacher on penalty of 
a severe whipping, if they ever ventured there again. Here 
have taught Aunt Hannah Turner, Miss JIannah Fairfield, 
Aunt Lucy Stanton (and she was the first to teach drawing and 
painting), Mr. John Hallam, Capt. Samuel Helms (who taught 
the big boys navigation ), ^Ir. Chester Prentice, and later, many 
young men of ])romise, William Palmer, Cyrus Noyes, James 
Burnett and Ralph Wheeler. 

Among the scholars were found Nat Gallup, of Albany, 
Charles Stanton and brothers, Elam and William Wheeler, 
Alfred Clark, Kichard A. Wheeler, Hiram Shaw and many 
another. In those early times, the ministers visited the schools. 
There was Rev. Ira Hart and Mr. Whittlesey, who came on 
their annual visits and later on ]\Ir. Simon Carew, Mr. Billings 
Davis and also one of these very children, Richard A. Wheeler, 
grown up, though only in his twenty-first year, was ap[»ointed 
the school visitor. Still later we see Hon. William Williams, 
one of the founders of the Norwich Free Academy, who always 
left the little tractor testament for the children, and when Elder 
Griswold came the big l)oys were wicked enough to imitate 
him, when his back was turned, by using the broomstick for a 
crutch and ffoino- about the room limping, in a manner to re- 



172 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

semble the good old inau who was lame and used a cvutcli for 
support. Still the old schoolhouse stands there and little 
children pass to and fro, recite their lessons and play their 
games as in the long ago. Of late years it is sometimes closed 
for a term or so because of the scarcity of children in the dis- 
trict, where in other days were gathered forty or fifty, and so 
full was the house that the teacher could hardly get around 
the stove. 

The following poem which so vividly describes them was 
printed in the "Democratic Review " in 1840. 

THE OLD S(JH(M)L HOUSE. 

It stands by the wayside beneath an old tree. 

Where I frolicked in childhood, light-hearted and free. 

'Tis rude and timeworn, and the weather stained door 

Is carved with deep crosses and marked o'er and o'er, 

AVitli drawings and names by childish hands traced, — 

Here, a part of a man, with the head quite effaced, 

But with shape and proportion ne'er intended by nature, 

The body a child's, but a giant in stature. 

The half open door to my view has disclosed 

The benches and desks still standing in rows. 

All duly notched, where some idle boy sat, 

And worn smooth where his elbows rubbed, this way and that. 

The desk of the master, his inivstand and rule. 

Where he set all the copies while he eyed the whole school. 

On the desk close beside, where the ferule is laid, 

Confiscated apples and tops are displayed ; 

Unchanged do they seem, and still standing there, 

Are the pail and tin cup, and the master's arm chair; 

And still in the center, all eaten with rust, 

The old stove and its pipe, thickly covered with dust. 

On the three legs is resting, the fourth broke and gone, 

Is supplied by a brick for its weight to rest on ; 

The papers and ashes lie scattered about, 

The bits of old pens with the feathers notched out, 

The marks on the wall, the ink on the floor, 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 173 

E'en the smoke on the ceiling's the same as of yore. 

Hark I the voice of the child, thro' the half open door, 

Who cons, in faint treble, his dull lesson o'er, 

And the other, who yawns witli his arms o'er his head, 

And sighs as he wishes his lesson was said ; 

Still deeper and longer, and more weary his sighs, 

When lie turns to the window his sleepy grey eyes, 

And sees in the field the lambs ski})piug at play. 

And envies their freedom this sweet summer day, 

And believes in his heart that happy he'd l)e, 

If he like ihe lambs, could only be free 

To gambol and frolic, to stand or to run. 

To lie down on the bank and bask in the sun ; 

But oh I this high bench, where his little short legs 

Hang dangling, benumbed and lifeless as pegs, 

While vainly he tries to reach Avith his toes 

The too distant floor. Oli I these are the woes 

Which many a child in his school hour knows. 

North of this schoolhouse, where now iinderhru.sh and timber 
are growing profasel}', was once several Indian wigwams, still 
remembered by the oldest inhabitants. In one lived Barbary 
Woggs, an Indian woman who wove baskets, from the twigs, 
saplings, splinters, or flexile willows of which there was then, 
an abundance about here ; after being shaped by hand they 
w^ere put in the sunshine to dry and perfect the shape. Here 
the old broad stone doorstep still remains to mark the place of 
this, the last of the Indian dwellings about here. 

Turning at the corner, near the late residence of Mr. A\'arren 
Wheeler, and about a halt mile to the east, on a prominence 
called W^alnut Hill, where the view is hardly to be excelled, 
^ye find a few feet back of the present new house, the place 
where an old house stood, which was once owned and occupied 
by John Wheeler's family. Mv. Wheeler who married Zerviah 
Fanning in 1727, built this house and lived here, and having 
no son," he gave the place at his death to his nephew, John 



174 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

Wlieeler, 'svho married Mary Miner, and his son John married 
Ann Borodel Denisou who lived at the old Denison house in 
Mystic. Their daughter, Xancy, married ]\Ir. Russell Williams 
and lived at Old ^lystic, from where their daughters married and 
Avent to other homes. One of the sons, Elias Wheeler, went 
south, where his descendants are yet living. 

Just a short distance l)elow, where till recently has been a 
gate to a private way and quite near the old turnpike was an 
old house, built l)y Jonathan Wheeler ; the old stepping stones 




^-♦J'P^?**'*" , -- 'S.'.'^^^f^HM .J • 




1^ 



in'DE I'l.ACE. 



now show where they used to come to the brook for water. 
Mr. Wheeler gave it to his son Josluia (who married Molly 
Turner), during his life and after him, to his son Joshua (the 
hunter), who never married, but built the present house stand- 
ing just below on the new road lately opened, called Wheeler 
Avenue. 

The Amariah Stanton house and ell now known as the Hyde 
Place was erected in 1750, and during the year 1790, the main 
body of this house was removed, and the present frontal was 
built by Judge Coddington Billings, sufficiently far away to 



OLD HOMES IN STO^!l^'GTON. 



175 



place the old schoolhouse, built in 1 T'H, I)etween the old ell and 
new house as it is now seen. The old schoolhouse originally 
stood upon the Hyde farm, quite a distance to the west of this 
house, and in 1780, the father of the late Governor Morgan of 
New York was tlie teacher there. When the new school sys- 
tem superceded in 1795, the building was removed and liecame 
part of this house. This farm has jtassed from Stantons to Hulls 
and Billings, and then to Gen. William Williams, who left it 
to his daughter, afterwards Mrs. William Hvde Jr., who rented 




I'AIJL U HEELER IIUMESTEAL). 



it for years till it was recently purchased hy Mr. Henry M. 
Palmer. 

A little east on the corner which turns to go to the yillage of 
North Stonington, is the finely preserved house, built b}^ Esq. 
Paul Wheeler in 1750. He was given his title from being one 
of the Committee of Safety at liome to furnish fuel and cloth- 
ing for the armv during tiie Revolutionary war. The house 
scarcely looks its age, standing beautifully located, ujjou a knoll 
and is reached by a long fliglit of stone steps, from which 
height it commands a grand view of land and water. After 



176 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

Esq. Paul's death in 1787, his son Paul lived here for several 
years, and then J\Ir. Isaac Williams bought it, and his descen- 
dants have owned and lived in it for more than a hundred years. 
Here used to occur officers" drills, Avhen Col. Joseph Mason, 
a descendant of jNIajor John, commanded. Here Col. William 
Randall, Esq. Joseph Noyes and Mr. Stephen Avery married 
their Avives, who were all great-grandchildren of the brave 
Susannah Eastman, who married John Swan in l()9',t. 

They lived in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and she had lost her 
first husband, Thomas AVood, and child, Susannah, who were 
killed by the Indians a few years before, and again her house 
was attacked by them, but they determined that tliey would 
save their lives and their children's also ; so the}' placed them- 
selves against the narrow door, but the Indians rushed upon it, 
and Mr. Swan, seeing resistance Vv^as useless, told his wife that 
it would be better to let them in, but this courageous woman 
nothing daunted and tired with suj^erhuman strength from the 
remembrance of the sorrow they had occasioned her before, 
seized her bake spit (which was a long sharpened rod of ii'on, 
used to pierce meat when roasting before the fire) and as the 
first Indian shoved himself through the door, she collected all 
her strength and drove it through the body of the man, which 
frightened them so that the rest turned and fled ; thus by her 
courage and determination, she saved her family from a bloody 
grave. They soon after moved to Stonington and settled on 
Swan Town Hill, now North Stonington, where she lived to be 
a hundred years old. This old Wheeler house is now in the 
W'illiams family, being occupied by the granddaughters of Mr. 
Isaac Williams. 

A short distance east of the Perez Wheeler house, stood a 
hundred years ago, an old, half one story house. Here Perez 
Wheeler and Desire Randall began housekeeping, on the farm 
given to him by his uncle, Cyrus W^heeler, who died unmarried. 
They lived here till 179t) when they built the })resent house, 
one story, double, the east side being finished at once for them 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTOX. 177 

to occupy and his mother and children lived in the other half 
as she was a widow. Afterwards their son Nathan raised it 
and made it the fine dwelling which is still owned l)y the family 
to the fifth generation. 

On the highway, but a little way below the Es(i. Paul Wheeler 
house, used to stand the combined house and variety shop of 
Isaac Wheeler and his wife, Madam Mary Shepard, on land 




I 



■**--.,^.. ^rr '■'' ^ 



PEREZ WHEELER HOUSE. 



given him l)y his grandfather, Thomas the first. This house 
was built in 1^)80 ; it was two stories on the south and one on 
the north, with show windows on the west. She was the first 
shop or store keeper in town and bought the products of the 
neighboring farms, which she marketed in Boston and the West 
Indies, exchanging them for articles for the planters here. 
She rode alone on liorseback to Boston, where she bought her 



178 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

dry goods and her house was not only the delight of the neigh- 
boring families, but her store became a political center. She 
accumulated much property for those days and was considered 
very rich, and at her death was the wealthiest woman in the 
county. 

The only mark now left of this once prosperous home 
is a short piece of double faced wall on the east side of the 
highway, nearly opposite the present residence of Miss ]\Iary 
Wheeler, their great-great-great-grandchild. Isaac and ^Nlary 
Wheeler had but two children, Margaret and Thomas. Mar- 
garet married Samuel Frink, son of the emigrant John, and a 
few rods below hev parents" house, they l)uilt, in 1714, the 
famous Frink tavern on land given them by her parents. The 
site is now known l)y what is called the old Frink garden, a 
small lot near the roadside, just south of Miss Caroline Wheeler's 
home. The tavern was a large two-story, double house painted 
red, with a projecting roof at the front, having its arched ceil- 
ing lathed and plastered. The front door was in the middle 
of the house, with a large room on either side of the chimney. 
It was a rendezvous for military training, which in those days 
was an event of much importance, bringing together, besides 
the regular compan}' and officers, a large number of people to 
witness the military tactics, and to enjoy the good cheer always 
on hand at a training. 

I quote from Mr. Benjamin Fish, the following :" Before 
Post offices were established, letters were addressed " To be 
left at the Frink Tavern." There the Williams, Wheelers, 
Denisons, Stantons and Noyes were often to be encountered 
talkins: over the ))usiness and ])olitics of the dav. Although 
the temperance crusade had not then begun, there was little 
if any over indulgence by these sturdy and substantial citizens, 
and the old Sazetac and fragrant St. Croix furnished at the 
tavern, were unblended, pure and undefiled. It has even been 
imagined that the grapevines, which have taken root in this 
abandoned cellar, where these liquors were once stored, have 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



179 



imbibed some of the old flavor of the soil, and tliat it can be 
recognized in their fruit, a delicious white grape. The follow- 
ing lines were placed over the mantelpiece in Frink's Tavern. 

" Our life is nothing but a winter's da)', 
Some onl}' break their fast and so away, 
Others stay to dinner and depart full fed, 
The deepest age but sups and goes to bed. 
He most in debt who lingers out the day, 
Who dies betimes has less and less to pay." 



r 




MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM WILLIAMS HOUSK. 

Between here and the next Wheeler house, still stands the 
old red house, built by Samuel Miner in 1739. Some years 
afterwards Gen. William Williams bought this place and lived 
here with his family, but later on he bought land of Mr. Charles 
Phelps and built the present house occupied by Mr. Theodore 
Palmer. In his will, he left the :\Iiner farm to his son Calvin, 
Avhose brother's widow, Mrs. Gen. Wm. Williams of Norwich, 
afterwards purchased and gave it to the Williams :Memorial 
Institute of New London (a High School for girls, which she 
founded in 'memory of her only son, who died in early man- 



180 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



hood). This old house has been inhabited by very many dif- 
ferent families during all these 100 years that it has been rented. 
At one time to Thomas Randall and later to Denison Stewart. 
Now it is owned by ]Mr. Arthur G. Wheeler, who has recently 
purchased it. 

One of the oldest Miner houses in town belonged to Ephriam, 
who married Hannah, daughter of the first Capt. James Avery, 
who built it and lived here in ItibG. It was situated about 
halfway between the red house and Mr. Sanford Billings' resi- 





jniiiiiiiiillilliltiiiiii^'iiasi 



^3*y 



CLEMENT MINER HOUSE. 



dence, where now is an orchard, in the northwest corner of 
which stood this two-story half house, with pointed roof, which 
faced to the south. Here lived the ancestors of Rear Admiral 
Stanton of the United States Navy. 

Where ^Nlr. Sanford Billings now" lives, was once the home 
of Joseph Miner, brother of Ephriam, who married Mary Avery, 
sister of Hannah, in 16H8. They had large families of children 
and both fathers served in King Philip's war, and were buried 
in the old Miner burying ground at Taugwauk. After him, 
his son lived here, who married Capt. Joseph Saxton's daughter 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 181 

Mary, and their sou Clement married A])i2:ail, daughter of 
Joshua Hempstead, Sept. 1st, 1731, and here her father came 
with the Rev. George AVhitefield and stayed the night before 
he preaclied under the tree at the Center Farm, July 19, 1747. 

This old house had been burned a short time before on April 
18th, 1747, and Hempstead's Diary says that on June 10th, 
same year, " Son Miner raised his house and about 200 people 
were there," and on Oct. 24th, 1748, Mr. Hempstead records 
that he was at son Clement Miner's, placing his Middletown 
large stepstone before his front door. A hundred ^ears later 
i\Ir. Rufus AVheeler was living in this new house, and his 
widow married Judge Coddington Billings, whose son, Hon. 
AVilliam Billings, took down the then old house, being careful to 
retain the frame-work of the east room, the front hall with its 
hand-made balustrade and a portion of the old roof, which had 
been one of the deep sloping ones at the north, and a portion 
of this is still to be seen on this side over the outside door. 
These he built about and made the present new residence, with 
the many commodious farm buildings, which he later gave to 
his cousin, the present occupant. 

Across the lots, at the west from here, on a new road which 
has but recently l)een laid out, stands a house, ancient, yet so 
renovated within a score of years, that one scarcely realizes 
that it was built in 1735, and was once a pest house, like many 
others in town at that day. At one time forty-five men were 
quarantined here, not being allowed to go further away from 
the house than the alarm lot (called so because in 1781, when 
Arnold attacked New London the men belonging to the house- 
hold were at work in this field). These quarantined men were 
vaccinated for the small pox and during the four weeks that 
they were obliged to stay here they organized a military com- 
pany and had regular drills every day. Dr. Grey attended 
them and upon reaching the place, would go into the crib and 
chanofe his clothes, before enterinir the house, where he diag- 
nosed the patient's condition. None were so sick, but that 



182 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

every good day they could all go out of doors, and when the 
time came to go away, great was the rejoicing, that now they 
were free to come in contact with the real smallpox, and yet 
be safe from its dreaded results. 

This house was originally built as a half, two-story, gambrelled 
roof, but enlarged in 1787 by adding the west side; the huge 
chimney in the center tills a space at the base sixteen feet 
square (just as large as the great east room) and four feet 
square at the roof. Among the timbers constituting the frame 
of the house are two Avhite oak plates, upon which rests the 
rafters, that are forty-four feet long and eight inches square ; some 
of them are still in position and sound, and since it was reno- 
vated about tAventy-five years ago, it bids fair to endure for 
another century. The Judge (Richard A. Wheeler) whose home 
it is and has always been, and to whose ancestors the farm has 
l)elonged for over two hundred years, is a great lover of history 
and genealogy. He enjoys a good story, whether told to him, 
or by him, and is good company for young or old. He was 
High Sheriff for twelve years, and Judge of Probate for 
twenty-three years, has written 653 wills, none of which have 
ever been set aside. He has also published the history of the 
church and town, with genealogies of the early settlers. He 
has served acceptably in man}^ public positions of trust, and 
helped to make peace in all conditions in which he has been 
placed. 

He renovated this house, put in new windoAvs and entirely 
made over the great room. The old kitchen was made into a 
dining room, and the cheese room and long entries, with the 
half door at the west and the heavy oaken door at the north, 
with their strong wooden latches, where the string was always 
out, have all been removed. The large rooms upstairs were 
plastered and large figures in red and green were painted 
on the walls with I)order at the top, of the same figures ; the 
ground work of one chamber was white and the other yellow. 
At the foot of the stairs in the front hall was also painted a 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTOX. 



183 




IS-l OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

life size portrait of a girl, with her low-necked dress and dainty 
slipper peeping out from the short and narrow skirt. Her 
hair was done in little curls about her face, which although 
supposed to be painted as an artistic picture, still it is said to 
resemble one of the family. 

In our mind's eye we see that kitchen of long ago, with its 
wide fireplace and stone hearth, where resting comfortably on 
the high iron andirons are the eight feet logs, sending up 
their shower of sparks and roaring flame. On the iron crane, 
hanging across, are the pot hooks, from which is suspended 
various messes in pots and kettles, while before the fire rests 
the baker full of toothsome viands. The brick oven at the left, 
now storing the household canned sweetmeats, then held the 
deep iron dish of brown bread, and on Saturda}-, the skillet of 
I)aked beans and pork, the pies of mince, pumpkin and apple, 
winch could all be baked at one time, after the oven was heated 
to a sufficient degree by red hot coals. In the summer time 
the fireplace would allow a person to sit in it in a comfortable 
chair, and when games of blind man's bull' were played, the 
older ones would gather in its spacious precinct, while the chil- 
dren scampered about the roomy old kitchen, which is long 
enough for a modern hotel, being 13 feet by 27. 

From the plastering Avere many hooks from which hung 
apples threaded on a stout string, pork and beef hams, various 
seeds done up in packages, and ears of corn which when well 
dried would prove a pleasure during the winter evenings, when 
over the bright red coals, the kernels would pop out into crisp 
white mouthfuls. On the round, uncovered wooden tal)le, are 
two tallow candles in their iron candlesticks, with the snuffers 
on the tray beside them, the pan of Rhode Island Greenings, 
Chesebrough and Prentice russets, Jilly flow^ers, Spicings and 
Denison reddings apples, with the pitcher of sweet cider and 
dish of walnuts and butternuts, all these were companions in 
that hospitable room of long ago. 

On one side of the table was the great spinning wheel, and on 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 185 

the other side, the little liueii wheel, for making the famil}- crar- 
nients was then, as now, a matter of time and strength, from the 
first sowing of the flax seed by hand in May, when it was scat- 
tered broadcast over the gronnd, until two and a half feet was 
the full growth in September, when it was pulled up by hand 
and gathered into small bundles, taken to the barn and when 
thoroughly cured and dried, they were separated into smaller 
ones and the seed was whipped out and pressed for linseed oil, 
while some was used to feed quails for trapping, also enough 
was saved for seed another j'ear, these bundles were opened 
and spread on dry ground, and kept till about the middle 
of October, when the stalks would be dry and easil}* broken. 
Then it was broken up and bound anew, in little bundles, 
and was put in the barn for the winter, and by a machine 
called a Brake it was swingled, hetcheled and put through a 
series of setchels (a board filled with long sharp, steel needles) 
Avhich removed the swingle tow (or stalk) leaving the linen 
fibre prepared for spinning on the little linen wheel, which Avas 
used for the thread and the finer articles of clothing. The 
tow was spun on the large, woolen wheel and made the coarser 
goods. Now the process is nearly forgotten and garments 
made of homespun cloth are carefull}^ preserved, and the 
wheels are gone except where they have been kept as heir- 
looms and now occupy a place of honor in the hall or lil)rary. 
As early as lTt)0, the cellar of this house was the weave shop 
where the loom used to stand, to weave carpets or cloth ; tan- 
ning leather was also engaged in, using vats made of chest- 
nut logs, dug ont and embedded in the ground near Stoney 
Brook ; here was also a weaver's sho]i, where apprentices were 
received at an early age and regularly indentured, by written 
contract, to learn the trade, and at twenty-one their '"time was up" 
and the}- departed, taking with them the knowledge of the busi- 
ness, a suit of new clothes throughout, and a good horse which 
was always given them, for their service during the time. Many 
a youth and maiden have gone from here to other fields of 



186 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

usefulness and their descendants have returned to visit in 
this house and look around from garret to cellar, where their 
ancestor lived so many years before, while one of these preached 
in the Road Church a few years ago. 

One of the mothers in this household, long ago, held some- 
what decided views in favor of fore-ordination, a doctrine which 
was much discussed in early times. One day, seated at her 
work, she heard a knock at the door and upon opening it found 
a niece of hers, who was a widow ; she thought her countenance 
looked rather troubled and after ordinary greeting had been 
exchanged, she enquired to know what was the matter. "Well," 
responded she, " Aunt' Folly, I have had an offer of marriage from 
a certain widower," naming him, and after telling her all the cir- 
cumstances, she asked, " What shall I do?"' " Well," said Aunt 
Polly, '-have you given this man any encouragement?" "No," was 
the quick reply. "Well then, Harriet, as you have children and he 
has also, and neither of you have any too mucli of this world's 
goods, I would advise you not to accept his offer." Receiving- 
no reply, she glanced up into Harriet's face and saw there a 
look of disappointment. At last she spoke. " Aunt Polly, I 
thought you believed in fore-ordination ?" "Well, I do somewhat," 
was the answer. "Well then, I believe it was fore-ordained that 
I am to marry this man and I should like to know how I can 
get rid of it?" The conclusion of tiie whole matter was, that 
Harriet accepted the widower's offer and lived happy ever after. 
Also in this house once lived a maiden whose name was Esther 
Wheeler ; she was engaged to marry Daniel Stanton, who lived 
not far from her home. During the Revolutionary War he 
had enlisted and gone to sea on the Privateer, ]\Iiuerva, which 
had captured the British merchant ship, Hannah, and among 
his share of the prize was a beautiful brocaded silk dress, 
which on his return, he presented to his affianced as a wedding 
gift, for they were expecting to be married within a short 
time. He had been home but a few days, filled with joy 
and hope for their future happiness, when tiie call came for 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



187 



battle at Gioton Heights, which he responded to at once, feel- 
mg that duty called and he must obey. What could have been 
the feelings of this young girl, only eighteen years old, when 
on the morning after the battle at Fort Griswold, his lifeless 
body and that of his brother, Enoch, who was killed at the 
same time and place, was brought to his father's house, from 
where they were carried and placed in one grave, in the Stan- 




THE JONATHAN WHEELER HOMESTEAD. 

ton family burying ground. The funeral was an event long 
remembered in this locality and attended by an immense crowd 
of people. These two young men, twenty-six and thirty-six 
years old left, the one a widow Avith seven children, while the 
other was mourned by a pi'omised bride. When their father, 
who was over sixty years old, looked upon their silent bodies 
lying in their coffins, side by side, in the very room in which 
they were born, he exclaimed, " Father in Heaven ! This is a 



188 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

fearful sacrifice to make for liberty and my country, l)ut it is 
cheerfully giyen." 

The next Wlieeler house no\y owned and occupied by J. 
Duane Wheeler, stands one half mile to the south and this 
farm has been in this Wheeler familj- since 1687 and for seyen 
generations, the name of Jonathan has succeeded itself. The 
east half of tlie house ^yas built about 1720, by Isaac Wheeler, 
for his nephe\v Jonathan, with the child's money, as his father 
Richard had died when he Ayas onl}- four years old, after Ayhich 
he went to liye with this uncle Isaac, whose wife, Madam Mary, 
kept the store near the Frink Tayern. He was taught this 
business and the cooper's trade, and later built for himself a 
store and shop a little southeast of this present house, where 
now^ can be seen the hollow in the ground, where it stood. In 
the shop he made casks, butter tirkins, keelers (to put milk in- 
to), barrels and hogsheads. He sold his goods to his aunt 
Mary Wheeler for use in her store and to Mr. John Denison, 
who built the first house at Stonington yillage in 1752, just 
east of the })resent National Bank, where he also kept a store. 

This Wheeler house was enlarged later b}^ adding the west 
half and still later other improyements and additions were made. 
The woodwork in tlie east rooms, aboye and below, clearly 
show that for the early days in which it was built it was of 
much finer style than the ordinary house. The cornice, wains- 
coting and the hand work about the fire-place in the upper 
chamber, are scarcely excelled in any ancient house in town. 
The son Jonathan Wheeler, who manied Priscilla Lester, was 
a man of unusual strength ; he could easily lift and drink from 
a full barrel. In those days, trials of physical strength were 
among the excitements of the times, and men tested their 
strength one against another. A man from Rhode Island who 
was noted for his great powers of muscle and sinew came to 
Mr. Wheeler's to measure his strength against him, but when 
Mr. Wheeler politely inyited him to drink from a full barrel 
which he easily lifted for his guest, the man departed rather 
hurriedly. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



189 



All through Taugwonk, the high l)arn is well known, which 
is the very oldest barn iu town. It was built a little east 
of the Jonathan Wheeler house about 1730, by him, for a 
wheat barn, and stands upon a stone foundation, over a ledge, 
which was blown out, leaving an underground room with a 
southern exposure, where sheep and lambs find .agreeable shel- 
ter from the winds and storms of winter. During the sunnner 
months in those early times, when the Ijarn was empty, a school 
was kept here by ]\Iaster Niles, (^uiltings were also held 




HICU KAKN. 



there and Esther Denison, wife of Jonathan, had a large petti- 
coat quilted there, which was preserved for many years, and 
finally divided among her great-great-grandchildren. It was of 
dark brown stuff made from homespun cloth, dyed and woven 
by hand, and quilted in patterns of trees with scjuirrels perched 
among their branches, and many another garment whose his- 
tory is not told, no doubt found its way from these quilting 
frames in this old building to the owner's home. Ah I many 
a story of youth and maiden's school days could be recorded 
were these brown hard l)eams and jafters able to impart the 



190 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



4- 



knowledge once stored within them, but alas I we go our 
way none the wiser except as our imagination may unfold for 
us a dreamy, fairy tale of begone times. 

Adown the road at the east Avhere the two old gates used to 
swing so close together, as almost to hit each other (when there 
were also seven others on the way between there and the Ivoad 
Meeting-house) and only a short distance below here on the 
south side of the road, used to stand a shop, over the bul)bling 
spring which still gurgles cheeifully under the road and through 




CLAKK UAVIS HOUSE. 



the wall, where potash and saltpeter were made and where, during 
the Revolutionary War, gunpowder was also made. The old 
ruins of the cellar of this shop, can yet be traced. Up this hill 
and still up another, called Cherry Hill, is a house built long 
ago by a j\Ir. Randall, who afterwards moved wdtli his family 
into the west, as New York State was then called. It was at one 
time occupied by the Eldredges, as here Mary Eldredge was 
brought up, who afterward married Daniel Stanton, one of 
the heroes of Grotou Heights. 

Later it was owned by Mr. Clarke Davis, the son of Elder 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 191 

Joseph Davis of Hopkinton, avIio married Comfort Laiigworthv 
in 1745. Mr. Davis' brother Josepli married Esther Denison, 
whose daughter Lucretia was very foud of this place and fre- 
quently visited here, and being in delicate health, she used to 
roam about over the farm ; in a secluded spot, shaded by trees, 
she chose her last resting-place ; she died not long after at the 
age of thirty years, and here now can be found her gravestone 
with this epitaph : 

" Farewell, Lucretia, lovely maid, adieu. 

Our bleeding hearts consign thee to the tomb, 
In this lone spot, your choice, reserved for you. 
Deep shrouded in its solitary gloom.*' 

When this house was owned by Mr. Clarke Davis's son Joseph, 
the center chimney was removed and chimneys at either end of 
the house were built, which now distinguishes it from its 
neighbors. The broad hall through the center bears evidence 
of the size of the old chimney and the deep cornice and hand- 
some corner cupl)oard, with carving and coloring in the upper 
part representing the rising sun. The deep window seats and 
summer beams visible, are facts not to be gainsaid that this 
is one of the early houses. This place has passed from one 
family to another for many years, till now it rests in the 
Wheeler name, as does much more of the land along this road 
for some distance, and with many little children })laying about 
this old house, now well improved, it bids fair to remain in the 
Wheelei- name for a century more. 

Down the hill and })ast the " Jeremy Lot," beyond the school- 
house, once stood the " (31d schoolhouse," situated on the rise 
of ground opposite the present house. Here went to school 
some of this generation. There was also an old house occupied 
by Mr. Elisha Wheeler, which stood near the road wheie now 
the barn is, and east of here, but a short distance, was where 
the first Frink lived in town, he was also the tirst carpenter. 
Still below, where the balm gilead and poplar trees used to stand, 
a long row in all their solitary stateliness, set oiit by Mr. Wood- 



192 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

bridge, and wliich served as a rendezvous for crow bill black 
birds, once stood a house east of them which was occupied by 
Mr. John Shaw, who operated the falling mill, that was situated 
quite a little distance west of the road on Stoney Brook, and it 
is now more than a hundred years since it went out of use. 



CHAPTER EIGHTH. 

'•The smith a miglity man is lie, with large and sinewy hands, 

And the muscles of his brawny arms are strong as iron bands, 

You can hear him swing his heavy sledge 

With measured beat and slow. 
Week in, week out, from morn till night 
You can hear his bellows blow."' 

Tlie Putman Corners, where the Ijeautiful old ehri tree, called 
the AVhitefield Tree yet stands, was once a busy scene, when 
the old blacksmith shop stood there on one corner, by the wil- 
hiw trees. Where the present house is, was then a ^ambrelled 
roof store, with hall in the upper story. Here school was kept, 
and opposite here stood the Center Meetins; House. Tliis was 
originally Miner land, and later it belong-ed to Mr. William 
Woodbridge, who sold it to ]Mr. Charles Phelps, and so it has 
passed on to different owners until this also is in the Wheeler 
name. The old house which used to stand on the farm was 
cast of the present one, about half way between here and Mr. 
Frank Smith's. Tlie old cellar can yet be seen and many of 
the older inhabitants remember that it was a two-story, double 
house with slanting roof.- Here lived Mr. Oliver TJabcock and 
family, parents of Mr. Stephen and ^\athan Babcock of Wester- 
ly. This was the Col. Joseph Champlin homestead farm of 
100 acres, purchased by him of Joseph Miner for 500 Spanisii 
milled dollars in ITbo. 

A little further south still stands the Jedediah Putnam house, 
though in a dilapidated condition. It is a half two-story house, 
and was once occupied I)y a family who Ijore tliis historic 
name, by which it has since been known, although it was built 
by the Thompsons. ^Nlr. ^^'illiam Thompson lived first, where 

198 



194 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



Mr. Eugene Palmer now resides (and his mother was Hannah, 
granddaughter of Elder William Brewster of the Mayflower). 
Here was a large, double house with slanting roof in the rear, 
and the front roof projected with a deep cornice or jetting, 
arched over the front part of the house and plastered underneath. 




PUTNAM HOUSK. 



It was afterwards occupied by Major Alden Palmer and family 
until the present one was Ijuilt on its site. The blacksmith 
shop at the Corner was built by ^Ir. Thompson's sons, of whom 
two were smithy s, and three were carpenters. 

The old wood-colored house, with long, sloi)ing roof to the 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



195 



east, ■which stood on the brow of the hill iit Tauirwauk, known 
as the " Yellow House Farm," has been pulled down within a 
few^ years and replaced by the present new one. It Avas an 
old landmark, having been built in the early years of 1700 by 
Walter Palmer, who also kept a store on the north side of the 
house in the small room next the road, which was entered by 
a door on the east side, near the north end. This Avas later 
closed and replaced by a window, having but four panes of 
glass. On the north side near the entrance was the old stone 
horse-block, where travellers mounted and dismounted, and on 
the same side was a large shop window, which opened up and out, 
making a counter, where customers could be served as they 




lOSEPK SMITH HOUSE, 



rode past. There were no trees about this old homestead, but 
a large elderberry bush stood between the windows on the east 
side and grew in spite of tlie numerous small stones which 
almost paved the ground for some feet about it. 

Walter Palmer was grandson of the first Walter, and also 
grandson of Capt. George Denison, wdiose daughter Ann, had 
married Dea. Gershom Palmer; he was baptized at the Koad 
Church June first, 1685, and married Grace Voseof Milton, 
Massachusetts, when he was "28 3ears old : fifteen years later 
he died and his widow was appointed administratrix on his 
estate, the inventory of which amounted to <£lo.V2 in housing 
and lands. Some of the lots west of the house, are yet remeni- 



196 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON". 

bered as being called •• The Walter Palmer land."" Since then 
this farm has passed throngli many hands, viz.: Zebediah Mix, 
carpenter, whose deed from Elihu Chesebroiigh is dated 1748; 
later in 1768, Oliver Smith is the owner : after him. George Irish 
of Newport and to him. in 1791, Elisha Denison of Xew London 
paid £'2o20 for its purcliase ; the farm was then improved by 
Noyes Palmer who married Sarah, daughter of Zel)ediah Mix, 
and in 1810 Mr. Denison sold it to Esquire Joseph Xoyes for 
fl3,55o.00. 

Mr. Xoyes had lived with his tirst wife at the Paul Wheeler 
house and for a few years in the old house at the •- Highland 
Farm."" which stood some distance east of the present one, 
where she died in 1806. when four years later he bought the 
'' Yellow House Farm '" and remained there till 1819. when he 
moved to the Elisha Denison house which stood a short distance 
to the east and lived in the old. two-story front, house with deep 
roof at the north. In the meantime ^Ir. Noyes rented his home 
farm to his sons Joseph and Thomas, but after a few years Mr. 
Denison sold his land to Mr. Clark Davis, and Mr. Xoyes moved 
back to his own place and his sons went away to other farms. 
He remained at this place till he exchanged farms with Captain 
Charles Smith, for the house and land now owned by his grand- 
son, Charles S. Xoyes. Captain Smith rented this farm and 
many families have made their home here for a time, among 
them being Mr. Dimond. Charles S. Hewitt, Latham ^Miner, 
Charles H. ^lain. AVilliam York, Charles Babcock and others, 
some of whom will yet remember the old house with its 
vine-coAered front and strong half door at the rear, where the 
roof came down so low as to be easily reached by those passing 
through. 

The land on the north side of the road, recently purchased 
by Mr. FernaudoWheeler and Frank Smith is mentioned in a 
deed of ^Ir. George Irish, as being •• the southeast corner of Col. 
Joseph Champlin"s homestead farm, where a narrow lane leads 
fiom said post road to said Irish's Taugwank pasture."' and near 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



197 



here at the right, is the okl ]\liner burying ground. Coukl the 
events of importance, which have occurred in the lives of all the 
families, sheltered under this old. roof-tree, in these past two hun- 
dred years be recorded, it would indeed be a most interesting his- 
tory of itself. Here have begun many happy married lives. 
At Christmas time, in 1800, John Noyes and Elizabeth Chese- 
brough were married, while the month before, Adam States 
and P'anny Chesebrough joined heart and hand, and here they 
all came and began housekeeping together. In 1818 Joseph 




COL. AMOS CHESEBKOrc.H HOM^SIEAD. 



Noyes and Grace Denison came here to live, and two years 
later his brother Thomas Noyes and her sister Eunice Denison 
joined them and for a time they dwelt here together. Fifty 
years later came Joseph Smith and l)ride, Susan Brown, and 
made their home on this farm which was given to him by his 
father, Captain Charles Smith, and it is now owned and occu- 
pied by his family. 

Following the romantic path, a little below the Putnam 
house, we find one of the oldest houses in town, which for six 
generations has been in the Chesebrough name and is now 



198 OLD HOMES IN 8TONINGTON. 

owned by Mr. Gideon P. Chesebrough. It was built by Col. 
Amos Chesebrough about 1729, and is yet fairly well pre- 
served. It is shingled on the west side and in various ways 
shows the marks of age. Mr. Chesebrougli was a wealthy man 
for those days and owned a great amount of land west of this 
house. A long line of maple trees are l)efore the door, and 
through the branches, glimpses can be seen of the waters of 
Fisher's Island Sound, Watch Hill, and nearby islands. 

Col. Amos's father, Samuel Chesebrongh, lived as a young 
man with his father, Nathaniel, opposite the Phelps place. He 
married Priscilla Alden, granddaughter of the historic Pris- 
cilla and John Alden of whom history in l(r20 says "John 
Alden was hired for a cooper, at South Hampton, England, 
when the ship \ ictuled, and being a hopeful young man was 
much desired, but left to his own liking to go or stay, when he 
came here, but he stayed and married here."' Of PrisciHa, we 
find that " Mr. ]\Iolines and his wife, his son and his servant, 
died the first Avinter, only his daughter Priscilla survived, and 
married with John Alden, who are both living and have eleven 
children." The home of this later Priscilla, who married Mr. 
Samuel Chesebrough in 1699, Avas a few rods farther south on 
the east side of the road below Col. Amos's house, where now 
can be seen a clump of shrubl)ery and a slight hollow in the 
ground. 

This Priscilla had a somewhat romantic story as well as her 
grandmother, for it is told of her coming from Roxbury, 
Massachusetts, riding upon a pillion behind her future 
husband (whom she married the following winter), and 
helping to hold his broken arm in position, which accident 
had occurred to Mr. Chesebrough at her father's house while he 
was there upon a business trip (selling cattle for the farmers 
of Stonington). Here he had Ijeen detained, not unwillingly 
as Ave may believe, and been well cared for, until it Avas thought 
safe for him to start on his homeAA^ard trip, and Priscilla was 
easily persuaded to accompany him and care for the Avounded 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 199 

jivm, but ostensibly to visit her sister Elizabetli, who lived in 
Stoningtou, only a few miles from Mr. Chesebrough's, on the 
southern slope of Merrick's Hill. She had married John Sea- 
bury, who was grandfather of the Right Rev. Samuel Seabury, 
the first Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the 
United States, and the one who first In-ought from Scotland 
into America the Apostolic Succession, Xovemljer 14tli. 1784. 
His name is honored in St. Paul's church in Rome, Italy, by 
one of the eleven double windows which was placed there to 
his memory. The following story is told of this Samuel and 
Priscilla Cheseljrough's daughter, who had a romance as well 
as her mother and great-grandmother. 

On an autumn evening one hundred years ago, a party was 
given in Lower Egypt, and among others who partici])ated in 
the pleasure of the occasion was ^Nliss Chesebrough, who had 
been brought by a gentleman living near her home at Putnanrs 
Corners. In those days all young ladies owned a i)illi<)n, for 
there was no other mode of conveyance except l)y horseback, 
and the pillion could be easily fastened to the saddle. In this way 
went our young lady to this party, l)ut after they reached there, 
where were assembled a goodly number of young people, she 
was introduced to a gentleman from North Stonington, who 
was very prepossessing in ajipearance, and he was much pleased 
Avith :\liss Chesebrough, and asked to have the pleasure of 
carrying her home from the party, but she told him that as she 
came with Mr. Palmer and her pillion was on his horse, it 
would not look well for her to take it off, but he eagerly 
enquired to know, if she Avould go with him, it he would tMke 
it off, to which she consented, and when at the close of the 
evening's entertainment, as he was changing the pillion to his 
own saddle, the gentleman who had brought her came out, and 
seeing what was being done, demanded to know the cause ot 
the change, when the North Stoningtou gentleman responded, 
that he had permission from the young lady herself and 
should carry her home ; after a few hot words they agreed to 



200 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



meet the next day at Oxacosett Bridge and decide it in a fist-a- 
cuff manner, which they did and after a short fight the North 
Stonington gentleman triumphed and won the day, and later 
won the young lady. 

The ]\Iiner Noyes house, so called, which stands near the new 
house of Mr. Amos Chesebrough, was early the property of the 
Slacks, who owned a large tract of land and lived in the old 
Slack house on the road from Stonington village to Westerly, 
which has been taken down within the last fifty years. Capt. 




MINER NOYES HOUSE. 



William Slack married Lucy Breed and owned this place, 
which he rented to various families. Here lived at one time, 
^fr. Jonathan Phelps and his famil}', the son of Dr. Charles 
Phelps, and later, Mr. Nathaniel Miner Noyes married Mary 
Slack and came here to live, and this place has been in the 
family name ever since. It is peculiarly shaped, and called 
the salt box house from being formed like the ancient salt boxes 
which were made to hang in the kitchens of all countr}^ houses 
long ago. It is the only one now standing in town, a half 



OLD HOMES IN STONIKGTON. 



201 



house, two stories in front and one in the rear, tlie long roof 
sloping down to the top of the very windows and doors in the 
first story. 

At some distance east of Col. Amos Chesebrongh's, on one of 
the old county roads, is the large double house with long ell, 
known as the Squire Joseph Noyes place, standing on the sum- 
mit of a high hill, from wliich is obtained a grand view, hardly 
excelled in all the town, of the ocean, near-l)y villages. Watch 
Hill, numerous islands and the surrounding country. This 



1 




1 



SQUIRE JOSEPH NOVES HOUSE. 



house was erected by Mr. Naboth Chesebrough in 1782, who 
married Phebe Palmer in ITTo; he was brother of William and 
son of Elihu Chesebrough. Sometime after, jNIr. Nathan Stan- 
ton purchased this place, and his son Sanuiel, who married 
Col. Giles RusselPs daughter, lived here, and their daughter 
married Denison Noyes, who sold it to Mr. Charles Smith, and 
he exchanged it with Squire Joseph Noyes (brother to Denison) 
for the vellow house farm, so called, where recently Mi-. Josei)h 



202 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

Smith lived. iNIr. Noves was obliged to sell this place as he 
had to pay a note that l)ecaine due, for quite a sum of money, 
which he lost b}' signing a note for a fiiend, so he came here 
to live, and his son Joseph and family joined him later, and it 
is still the property of their son, Mr. Charles S. Noyes. lender 
the hill at the east, is the old Plantation Brook, winding among 
the trees and bushes, and sparkling amid the pebbles and stones 
which lie in its shallow bottom, A memory of the place within 
the last forty years, written by a friend, who was often a guest, 
seems worthy a place here: 

" I spent one day of my vacation at this old Noyes home, 
where so many happy days of my boyhood were passed, and 
I wanted my children to see it. 1 bad visited it once or twice 
during the i>ast years and wanted to go again, so one beautiful 
day, we drove over. It doesn't look now as it did then, kept 
spotless by the busy hands and scrupulous neatness of those 
former housewives, but the View from that point is charming. 
I did not realize that as much, when a l)oy. I had not the time 
to go to the old plantation brook, where one day, you remember, 
a merry party waded in its clear waters. The small boys that 
were with me, were too little to trudge about as their father 
used, feeding the sheep, carrying the salt for them and munch- 
ing dry, brown-bread crusts on the way. Those crusts were 
from the west pautiy in the ell, and I knew also where the pans 
of milk were set, as I was fond of cream and sometimes helped 
myself, much to the disarrangement of the plans for butter 
making, I am afraid, but they were all very kind to me and 
I)atient, more so than I am now, I fear, when my boys get into 
mischief." 

A little to the south is the Ephraim Williams place, stand- 
ing back from the public road, and is reached through a 
driveway, bordered by a long line of fan-topped elms of a half 
century's growtli. This niansion house with its large square 
roof, sloping down at the north, and broad east side, having 
three windows in the upper and lower stories, presents to the 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



203 



casual observer more than an ordinary appearance. As you 
stand upon the broad stone step, your view outward is of 
the ocean and surrounding countr}*, which is very pleasant, 
yet the longing to enter will surpass, and as the great door 
swings hospitably open, it will disclose to your gaze the little 
hall and the ])alnstrade which is quite ehiborate and hand 
made, while the stairs with their six turns, carry you to the 
third story, which can be seen from the hall below, I-^arge, 
.square, sunshiny rooms are on either side, showing the summer 




EPHRAIM WILLIAMS PLACE. 



beams and deep cornice. If you enter at the east side door, 
you will find an ideal old country lean-to with a half door at 
either end, the rafters showing overhead and the liare brown 
floor beneath your feet. 

This farm was formerly owned by Mr. Elihu Chesebrough, 
who married in 1740, Esther Dennis. He probably built this 
house about that time, and his son William afterwards lived 
here and married Esther Williams, and here their children were 
born. The daughter, Eunice Chesebrough, later married Joseph 



204 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTOX. 

Noyes, and finally came to live at the house a little to the 
north, Avhere her imele Naboth then lived, who had bought 
the land and house in 1782 of Thomas Chesebrough of Preston, 
having inherited it from his brother Capt. Jonathan (the hus- 
band of Naboth's sister Esther). About 1782, Mr. William C'hese- 
brough moved to North Stonington, having exchanged his farm 
here with his wife's brother, Mr, Ephraim Williams, who lived 
at the old Williams" place, north of Colonel James F. Brown's. 
Mr. AVilliams had married Sarah Potter in 1781, but she died 
in a few years, and later he married Hepsibeth Phelps, and 
wliile living here his oldest son, Ephraim, was born in 1791. 
He soon after moved to Wequetequock and there his son, Capt. 
Charles, was born, but this old place has remained in the Wil- 
liams name all down the years, passing from father to son, and 
still is owned by one of the family, ]Mr. Charles P. Williams, 
though having been in the hands of tenants for over a liundred 
years. 

On the Flats below, near the old home of Rev. James Noyes, 
a Baptist church was built in the first half of 1800, called the 
Anguilla Meeting-house, and the building is still standing, 
though now used as a barn. (^)uite recently on land south of 
this church, has been found, in plowing the ground, a number of 
silver Pine Tree shillings, dated 1052, and now worth their weight 
in gold ; some of them are larger than others and the edges of 
all are uneven, having been made 1)V hand. The very earliest 
coins had only N. E. on one side and XII-A'T-II on the other, 
but in 1()52 the General Court ordered '•* that all pieces of 
money should have a double ring with this inscription, ' Massa- 
chusetts and a tree in the center and New England and the 
year of our Lord on the other. 

The tree on some of the coins is an oak shrub, on others a pine 
or a willow. The variations of the coins are the only means of 
fixing the date of issue, as all bear the same date, 1652. To 
whom this money, which has been found on Dea. Erastus ^Miner's 
land, belonged, or for what reason it was buried or perhaps lost. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



205 



is, and will prol)ul)ly always remain a niysterv, for at the time when 
this money was in eiiculation, the land here was a forest, as it 
was but a short time after the town was settled. 

A few rods east, we find a low, old-style, gambrel-roof 
house snugly ensconced upon quite an elevation and lookino- 
down benia-nly upon the passers-by. This house was built by 
James Noyes about the middle of 1700. He was son of Capt. 
Thomas Noyes, and this place had descended from father to son 
through three generations, till Mr. Jesse Noyes gave a [)oition of 




it to his niece, who married Mr. Paul Noyes, and they resided 
here, so it has been in the Noyes name for !.")() years. On the 
little knoll in front of this house, in the spring of lSo8, was 
assembled the (Jth Company, 8th Regiment, 3rd Brigade of 
Connecticut INIilitia, for their aiuinal training. The otficers of 
this Company were Capt. liichard A. AN'heeler. Lieut. Amos 
Chesebrouo;h and Ensijrn Ezra Wheeler. The musicians of tiiis 
company were John Vincent, who played the key-bugle, .b)hn 
D. Wheeler, clarinet, (ieorge Frink, fife, Dudley l)a\is, the 
snare drum, and Albert Vincent, the bass drum. 



206 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



After the usual drill in the morning was over and dinners 
eaten, which were served by Mr. (lilbert Collins, wlio was then 
living there, the company, according to previous arrangement, 
marched down into this field made historic by the finding of 
the Pine Tree shillings, and stood in extended line, with swords 
sheathed and guns reversed, to await the coming, and to pay 
tribute to the funeral cortege of mourning friends, who fol- 
lowed the body of Miss Abby Helms, a young lady who had 
been known to nearly all in the company. When the long 



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CAPT. THOMAS NOYES MANSION. 



procession crossed Anguilla Bridge and drew near, the musi- 
cians, lifting their instruments began to play, and as the clear 
notes of the key-bugle and clarinet, the scream of the fife and 
the heavy roll of the snaie and bass drums, blended in the 
mournful strains of the "Dead March in Saul" scarcely a dry 
eye was seen among this company of Connecticut Militia. 

Mr. James Noyes' father, Capt. Thomas Noyes, lived just 
beyond, at what is now known as the Col. Peleg Noyes (or the 
Hoxie Noyes) house. Capt. Noyes built this house after his 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 207 

marriage in 1705 to Elizabeth, daui^liter of Gov. Peleg San- 
ford and granddaughter of Gov. William Coddington of Rhode 
Island. He and his son James were Colonial officers. Capt. 
Thomas was a man possessed of considerable property and he 
it was, who sent to England and had the Noyes Coat of Arms 
cut upon a stone and placed over the grave of his father, our 
first minister. Rev. .lames ^oyes, who lies buried at We(|uete- 
quock. This house which he built is set back from the road 
some little distance and impresses one with a grand hospitable 
air. It is large, square, unpainted, with a hip or quail trap 
roof, truly in stjde a mansion house. The broad front door 
has tlie old-fashioned iron ring for the knocker, with the small 
panes of glass over the top. From the front hall below, the 
stairs can be seen winding away into the upper story and again 
winding on into the garret. 

The great east room seventeen feet square, has the old-fash- 
ioned corner cupboard, where now^ can be found very beautiful 
and ancient crockery, not l)elonging to the Xoyes family but to 
those of the present occupants. The west side of this room is 
ceiled from top to floor, the width of some of the boards are be- 
yond belief unless they are seen. The kitchen has the old style 
dresser for crockery and the summer beams show in all the 
rooms. Ah! could this house speak, what a history it would 
give of Revolutionary heroes, of whom Col. Peleg was one, 
being Captain at Fort Griswold in 1777. What stories of love 
and war, heartaches and sorrows borne patiently and of lives 
lived out in their fulness and gone on into the unlimited beyond 
where all shall be satisfied. This place has long remained in 
the Xoyes name from the time of Capt. Thomas, to the present, 
when it now belongs to the daughter of Mr. George and Mrs. 
Martha Xoyes, ]\Irs. Orson Rogers. 

Dea. John Xoyes, brother of Capt. Thomas, built the house 
near Westerly, now known as the ^loss house, in 1714. Dea. 
John's second wife was great-granddaughter of CJov. William 
Bradford, second Governor of Plymouth Colon}-. This house 



208 



OLD HUMES Df STOS^IXGTOy. 



is large with a square rooL and spacious rocmis are oa liotfa 
floors. It has no cellar underneath, being boilt npon a led^. 
thongh the cellar stairs go down from the front hall and end 
aptm a flat rock. This iarm wa& inclnded in the grant of land 
from the State of Connectient to Thomas Stantcm. the Interpre- 
ter General of New England- and br his will it was given to 
his son-in-law. Rev. James Xoyes. and from him to his son, Dea. 




pu4el3» 2i^a.E,Sm 



Jcrfm. and to h^ son. Joeej^ Xores, who lired and died there : 
he sold it to Xathaniel Palmer, and from him it descended to 
his son Lake, who Kred here. 

At that time there were two race eomses, 80 rods hnig. on 
the farm, where hundreds of people used to asonUe to wit- 
ness the races often held there. Still later 'Sir. Jesse Moss 
owned and renovated the house so that it is now in good repair 
and looks as if it wonld remain halj^table a century more. 



OLD H(JM?:S IN STONINGTON. 209 

Some of tlie laud about the house has beeu sold, withiu the last 
few years, so that now the farm is reduced in size, but the new 
and commodious houses which have sprung up all about here, 
show that man}' homes have taken the place where used to be 
but one, which at the time that this house was built was with- 
out ueiofhbors. Mr. !Mos.s was interested in makiuof the land 
upon this place beautiful to the eye, as well as productive, and 
the broad and beautiful tields lying before the door will })robably 
soon find a dividinof line V)etween them, where now the acres 




are without fence or wall, or even a stone upon their smooth 
surface. ^Ir. Moss was a orreat benefactor to the village of 
Westerly, which has now become almost a city. 

But a little way to the north, on the other road stands the 
old Stanton house, located a little otf from the highway and 
occupied about 1785 by Samuel Stanton, who married Hannah, 
daughter of Col. Giles Russell. Whether he built the house is 
not certainly known, but after a time his daughter Hannah mar- 
ried Denison Xoyes and lived there a few years, V)efore they 
moved to Auburn. New York. Mr. Samuel Stanton married 
second, Marv Xoves, and she lived here till about the middle 



210 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

of 1800, when she sold the place to ^Iis. Emily, the widow of 
Mr. Frank Pendleton. Here, also, was held the first Catholic 
services before their church was built iu Westerly. 

At the very summit of Hinckley Hill, where now stands a 
grand old elm tree, once stood the first Hinckley house in Ston- 
ington, on land bought before 1717 of Benjamin Palmer, for 
this Samuel Hinckley was a member of the Road Church in 
1708. This first house, after a time, was removed and a new 
one took its place, built about sixty years ago, which stands 
here now, large and square, and having a magnificent vieAv of 
the surrounding country, even looking into four states, viz.: 
Rhode Island, Connecticut, ^Massachusetts and Vermont. At 
the south and east the grand old Atlantic can be seen, also 
Block Island, Watch Hill and all the islands near and far, 
along the coast. Near here also stood the old school house, built 
in 1799, long since gone, with the high stone post or mile 
stone near Ijy. 

On the left is the Rev. Xuthaniel Eells house, built by him 
about 1735, and he lived there when he preached at the Center 
Meeting-house, the Road and the Old Academy at the Borough. 
^Ir. Eells was patriotic as well as religious, for he left his pul- 
pit to go to the battle of Lexington. It will be remembered 
that ]\Ir. Eells preached at the East and West church, alter- 
nately during the year, for a long time, and his salary was to 
be the interest of the ministry land money, and one penny on 
the pound of the polls and ratable estate of the society, with 
firewood, cut and delivered to him, but troubles arose on 
account of various society meetings, to decide upon the loca- 
tion of a new meeting-house and society limits, which soon 
extended to other matters, and many became so exasperated 
that they refused to pay their ministers rates, while others 
refused to pay either principal or interest on the ministry land 
money. The result was, that the society became in debt to 
Mr. Eells for his salary, which of course embarrassed him and 
led his creditors to try and collect their claims, so he com- 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



211 



nienced a suit to recover his money and the society hiid a tax 
to pa}- him, but this did not weaken his attachment for them or 
ahenate the people from him, for during' the wliole of his stay 
here, a most friendly feeUng existed between them all. 

After a time the farm was sold and Mr. Eells went to live 
w^ith his sons at the Borough. While Mv. Eells lived at tliis 
farm, he owned a horse, which became very refractor}' and ob- 
durate and he was unable to ride him, unless the equine wished 
to go, so after vainly trvinof, he sold him to a mmi in New London 




REV. NATHANIEL EELI.S HOUSE. 

who let horses to travellers. One day, sometime after, Dr. Ben- 
jamin Franklin came to New London and wished to get a horse 
to ride to Newport, and it chanced that Rev. Mv. Eells' horse 
was led out for him to use, so on they came, till Mr. Eells' 
house on Hinckley Hill was reached, when the horse refused 
to go any further ; the Doctor urged and argued, Imtthe horse 

stood firm. 

After a while Mr. Eells came out and accosted the stranger, 
saying, " Sir, I do not know you, but I know your horse, for I 



212 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

have owned him and am well acquainted with him, and it Is 
useless for you to try to ride him further tonight." So'_^Dr. 
Franklin alighted and spent the night with Mr. Eells and the 
next morning, Mr. Eells lent him his own horse and he pro- 
ceeded on his way to Newport. I/pon his return, he again 
stopped at Mr. Eells and exchanged horses, expecting to ride 
speedily back to New London, hut the horse refused to go in 
either direction until Dr. Franklin mounted him and then 
hired a lad, to lead him the whole way back to the Ferry. 
This Eells house has been recently made over and looks like a 
new house and belongs now to the Campbell family. 

Down the hill, set back from the road and almost surround- 
ed by a garden, where the vines and trellises nearly cover the 
whole front of the mansion, is the house long known as tiie 
States home, as ]\lr. Adam States, a Hollander, came here and 
married Mr. James Noyes' daughter, Esther ; she died in a few 
years leaving children, and Mr. States married her sister Mary 
who was the widow of John Pendleton ; later he married Cyn- 
thia Brown and still continued to live here. This land was 
part of the farm of Mr. James Noyes, which extended over to 
the farm now known as the Adam States, Jr. place, but it is 
quite probable that ^Ir. Noyes built this house for his daughter 
Esther, upon her marriage with Mr. States, in 1778, so it has 
been known as the States place for a hundred and tAventy-five 
years. Mr. Erastus Wentworth of Norwich, Connecticut, mar- 
ried ]\lr. States' daughter Esther, and after her death married 
Cynthia, who was then living at this place alone with her 
brother Ichabod. Here was once a brick kiln, where all kinds 
of earthern ware was made by the States's ; this one was 
managed by the father, and another was carried on at Stoning- 
ton village by his sons : it was located at Kiln Wharf, or Shin 
Bone Alley, below the Capt. Williams house. Later the kiln 
at the States place was carried on by " Uncle Wentworth" as he 
was familiarly called. One of his sons was the Rev. Erastus, 
who was Missionary to China. 



OLD HOMES IX STONINGTON. 



213 



A stoiy is told of Uncle Wentwortli as follows : the}' atteuded 
the church at Pawcatuck, after it was formed in 1843, and 
were always present in good season with one exception, when 
itissaid that one Sunday moruino-, he drove up to his door 
a trifle late to start for meetinsf, and helped his good wife into 
the two-seated wagon, which was made to serve the purpose of 
pleasure and utility, by removing the Ijack seat at will. After 
]Mrs. Wentworth was comfortably seated on the back seat, her 



«^ 



V 





ADAM STATES OR WENTWORTH PLACE. 



husband sprang in upon the front one, and feeling that they 
were a few moments behind the usual time, whipped up his 
horse, which started off at a quick gallop, and drove hurriedly 
along, up hill and down, till he drew rein before the meeting- 
house door and got out to assist his wife from the vehicle, 
when lo! and behold I neither wife nor seat were to be found: 
so springing back into the wagon, if possible quicker than 



214 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



wlieu lie started from home, he drove furiously back to find 
Mrs. Wentworth staudiug at their door, patiently waiting for 
him to return. It is needless to say that the seat had tipped 
over backwards, and ^Ivs. Wentworth with it, but fortunately 
she was not hurt, though they were late at church, a thing 
never heard of before. In after years they cared for a little 
girl, who grew up, married, and now is the owner of this old 
homestead. 




sA.MrEl. I'ALMEK HOUSE. 



At the very foot of Hinckley Hill, we see the little white- 
washed house set behind a low fence and showinsf the old stone 
chimney on the west side, clear to the ground. This was built 
by James Palmer long before the Revolution, and occupied in 
1780 by his son Samuel, who married Hannah Eells, the minis- 
ter's daughter, who lived on top of the hill'; here they lived 
and brought up their large famih^ of children. Their daughter 
Emily married Mr. Benj. F. Pendleton of Groton, and later she 
owned and lived at the Stanton house near Westerlv. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



215 



Her brother Frank was drowned in Pawcatnck River in Ma\', 
1807, a lad of fifteen years. He is said to iiave run up to 
Samuel Hobart Hinckley's (who lived at the house on the hill), 
to see the new l)aby, who was born that morning, and asked 
Mrs. Hinckley to name the child for him, Frank, and then run 
on to overtake his people, wlio were going down the river tish- 
ing, where he met his death ; the bab}^ was named Frank Palmer 
Hinckley, and lived till 1 800 when he died unmarried. Another 
son, J. Hobart, Avas in the war of 1812 in the Privateer brig 




lUE RHODES MANSION. 



*' General Armstrong," at Fayal near the close of the war. 
The daughter Betsey lies buried beside her cousin Eunice in 
Evergreen Cemetery near Stoningtou, as there was always 
between them a friendship and loving companionship seldom 
witnessed. At this house lived Mr. Gilbert States' family at 
one time, and after them many others have lived there as tenants 
and owners. 

Around the bend of the road and past tiie old Xoyes Bury- 
ino- ground, stands the Rhodes mansion house, built about 



216 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTOX. 

1760, a large, white, two-story, gaml)rel-i-oof house quite shaded 
bj tall trees and borders of heavy fragrant green box. Capt. 
Simon Rhodes, who built this house and lived here, came from 
Kewport and married Anne Babcock, and it lias been in the 
family name till recently. 

Within the memor}' of the })resent generation it was occu- 
pied by two sisters, born in the latter part of 1700, who in 
their early life were engaged to be married to two brothers, 
whose home was only a short distance east of here ; preparations 
were being made for their marriage ; even the t^^•o wedding 
gowns were made and laid aside to await the happy day, when, 
alas I one of the brothers was taken sick and after a short but 
severe illness, died. This caused great grief in both families and 
the bereaved sister felt that she could not endure the thought 
of the marriage of the other, so,her wedding was given up, and 
the garments which had been made amid so many happy and 
joyous thoughts were laid aside, and these two sisters lived here 
together for many 3'ears, till death gathered them almost in one 
embrace, only a mouth apart, one aged eighty and the other 
seventy-seven years. The bereaved lover lived unmarried all 
his life. Scarcely is such tender devotion seen in this world. 
The house which stands a few rods to the west was built 
almost on the site of an old one which was occupied by the 
brother of Anne Babcock, Jonathan, who married Esther Haz- 
ard. This land east of Anguilla brook was originally owned by 
one James York, whose grandson sold a part to this James 
Babcock, whose daughter married Capt. Simon Rhodes, and 
whose son married Miss Hazard and lived Avhere Dea. Erastus 
Miner now dwells, in an old house which Dea. ^liner removed 
when he erected the present one. Up the road to the north 
we come in sight of a hill, upon the top of which stands a 
large elm tree, near where was formerly a house occupied by 
Esquire Paul Wheeler's sister ^Nlary, who married Charles 
Miner in 1741. This has lonsf since ffone and a little further 
to the left stands the new Randall house, built in the place of 
the old one w^hich was burned some twenty years ago, belong- 
ing to My. Dudley Randall. 



CHAPTER XI^TII. 

" The hills are dearest which our chiUlisli feet 

Have climbed the earliest, and the streams most sweet 
Are ever those at which our young lips drank, 
Stooped to their waters o'er the grassy bank." 

But a short distance almost directly north, stands another 
well preserved house, with a hip roof and an old style porticf) 
over the front door, which is found after passing the whole 
length of the east side, which is nearly seventy feet in length. 
The front hall is panelled and the rooms are unusually large, 
and in the great east one is the old style cupboard. In the long, 
low lean-to is found tlie kitchen and rooms beyond for milk 
and cheese, with all the necessary utensils. This house was 
purchased by i\Ir. .lohn Kandall, about IToO, of the descendants 
of Dea. Gershom Palmer, one of whom, it is sup[)Osed, was the 
builder. His son, Judge William Kandall, whose home it was 
for n:any years, was Colonel of the oOth Kegiment of Connecti- 
cut Militia daring the war of 1812, and he had command oF 
this regiment during the defense of Stonington. 

From Col. RandalFs liouse could be seen the tar barrel on 
(xrant's hill, which by previous arrangement was to be lighted 
at night to let the people know when the enemy was approach- 
ing, so towards the evening on the lltii of August, 1814, when 
the British ships were seen outside tlie harbor, Mr. Nathan 
Smith left Stonington, to notify Col. Randall of their approach, 
and also proceeded to Westerly, to inform his father and four 
brothers, Joseph, Henry, Charles and (liles, wlio were at work- 
there putting the wood-work into the old stone factory, and 
so at eight o'clock the next morning, the whole regiment, hav- 
ino- seen the blaze of the tar bairel, liad assembled at Stoning- 



218 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



ton, ready and eager to defend the place, which was so well 
done that the British were repulsed, this luteins' the only place 
along- the line of battle which \\as not surrendered. 

This house of Col. RandalFs was renovated by his son, ]\Ir. 
Elias Kandall, during his life, new windows being put in and 
other improvements made. It is yet in the Randall name, but 
inhabited by Mr. Frank ^lerrill and family, which is a double 
reminder of ve olden time, for liere can be found not onlv the 




COL. WILLIAM RANDALL HOUSE. 



old style house but the old time large family of children, twelve 
in number, keeping the old house alive with light and joy. 
But a short distance west of the house of Col, Randall is Mr. 
Elias Miner's dwelling, where formerly stood the old Kiles 
house. This was the original home of Walter Palmer's son, Dea. 
Gershom, built by him in 1GS7. liy the doorstep of Mr. Miner's 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 219 

house is a stone taken from the chinme}' of this old house 
which bears the following inscription : 

16 $7 

P 
G A 

Turning back upon the main road and drivino- on through a 
road shaded by elms, maples, wild cherry trees, and bordered 
with golden rod and wild carrot, we come in sight of Merrick's 
Hill, rising much above the surrounding land, and intersected by 
stone walls which nnirk the Ijoundaries of the once various pas- 
tures and meadows. Here used to stand two old houses occupied 
by the ancestors of Isaac and Latliam Miner, l)ut both of these 
have long since fallen to decay. One of these, cosily nestled 
cm the southeast side, Avas of the two-story front, and one in tlie 
rear order, and here lived Mrs. Elias ^liner for many years. It 
wa6 known as the Seabury house, where once lived the grand- 
father of the first bishop in America. 

Scattered about this part of our town were the homes of 
many of the Breed family and it is still called Breedtown. 
The Jesse Breed house, probably built by his father, Mr. Amos 
Breed, stood where Mr. Herman Brown's liouse now stands and 
a hundred years ago was an old house, built in the regular 
mansion style, large, square, and later painted white. The 
rooms were very large, one of them taking 51 yards of carpet 
to cover the floor. Mr. Breed moved to Pawcatuck in the 
early part of 1800, and invented a ring spinner for spinning 
cotton, and afterwards sold his right to Mr. John Brown for 
•■^lOO. This successful i)atent -is 'still used in this and other 
countries. The stone near the side doorstep of Mr. lleury 
Breed's house was one of the stones Avhich Mr. John Breed had 
in his mill for tanning leather, when he lived a few rods west 
of this house, with his wife, who was the daughter of Dea. 
Gershom Palmer, whom he married in lUOO. 

His lirst wife, Mary Kirtland, had died in J.ynn, where he 
was born and lived until he came to Stonington and bought 



2'20 OLD HOMES IX STOXI^GTOX. 

land of Dea. CTeis^hom Palmer aud married his daughter Mercy. 
At their graves in Wequetequock. we read. '-In memory of a 
pious pair, this carved stone was erected here. viz.. of Mr. John 
Breed and his wife Mercy, who lived together in ye marriage 
sfcite in a most religious manner about '34 yeai-s and then 
deceased, leaving a numerous offspring. He in IT-il about 
ninety years of age and she in 17o2 about eighty-tliree years. 
Erected in the year ITTi! by six of their children then living. 

Behold the righteous live long on the earth, 
And in old age resign their breath, 
They aud their offspring here are blessed : 
When doue with life they go to rest." 

The old house of his grandson. Captain John Breed. Jr., was 
built iu the early part of 1700. and was afterwards owned by 
Samuel Bi'eed and his son John. At his death it became the 
pro[>erty of Mr. Henry Breed, who built the new house now 
standing, and removed the old one which had stood here 
so many years. ^Ii-s. Emily Breed Cleveland describes it as 
surrounded by pink aud white rose bushes and lai-ge clusters 
of lilacs, which gave forth in the spring such an odiferous i>er- 
fume. At the back of the house stood the tall pear tree and 
the old pippin apple tree, long since fallen, which yielded much 
delicious fruit. The long row of currant bushes by the wall 
near the old well, with its sweep and moss-covered bucket : 
the bed of sage in the g-aixlen kept free from weeds and cut 
at intervals, to be dried for the family medicine chest, and in 
summer the long tables covered with sweet corn, drying out of 
doors for winter's use. all remain in the memory of those who 
dwelt there long ago. The Roswell Breed house still stands 
near the residence of Mr. Elias ^liner, and it was for a long 
while [xiinted yellow. This story and a half house has been 
now for a time uninhabited, but has been the home at different 
times of a number of families in our town. 

Xearlv a mile northeast of Col. Randall's fanw, stands a little 



OLD HOMES IX STONINGTON. 



•l-ll 



hack from the I'oad, the Kenyou place, or wliat was once known 
as the Baldwin house, as it was fvt)in here that Mr. Asa Baldwin 
movecl when, he bought the Xehemiah Palmer place at \Veque_ 
tequock, now called the Baldwin house. The home of the tirst 
Baldwin of Stouinoftou was a short distance from the Yellow 
house farm, between there and the Col. Amos Chesebrough's 
place. At this second Baldwin house lived Mr. Asa Baldwin, 
who married Dolly Brown, with their family of seven children, 
none of whom ever married but the youngest, Betsey, who 
married Perr}- Kenj-ou and lived here till her death in 1874. 

The house now occupied by ^Ir. Charles Champlin, was the 
home of Mr. Stephen Babcock some seventy years ago, but 




KEN VON HOUSE. 



many years before that, Mr. (George Bentley Uved in the old 
house, which stood a little south of this and was burned one 
day just at noon, and as they had no ladders long enough to 
reach the roof the fire could not be extinguished. Now, a large 
butternut tree stands in the very cellar near the barn that will 
long mark the spot. Mr. Bentley, who married Lucy Gardner, 
built the present one-story white house, which stands by the 
roadside, about one hundred and twenty-tive years ago, but hav- 
ing been kept in such good condition, it does not have the appear- 
ance of an old house. After the house was burned, Mr. Bent- 
lev was the miller for a time when the power of the river was 
used here for iri'inding grain. 



222 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



Further on, turning at the right and over-looking White 
Rock, a thriving vilhige iu the near-bv state of Rhode Ishmd, 
we pass through a gate and climl) a hill, on the summit of 
■which stands the old Abiel Gardner homestead l)uilt in the 
midtlleof 1700 ; although now rebuilt, still some of the old beams 
find timbers are in the north side of this house which is occu- 
pied by Mr. John (lardner and family, his great-grandson. It 
is a large, double, wood-colored house: the front and inside 
doors have tlie old-fashioned iron handles and latch, and within 




aETHEX BAbCOCK PLACE. 



is found a deal of old-time furniture. Stands of all sizes, from 
the very small one, just large enough to hold the one tallow 
candle, with its tray for snuffers, to the large one with its pol- 
ished mahogany surface, which can be turued up at will against 
the wall. The large cherry table, chests of drawers, large 
chairs, smaller fiddle-back ones, corner ones, little rockers, low- 
boys, high-boys and peculiar old-style wash stands, are all 
found there, while the old clock still ticking away the hours, 
with the date 1794 and •' bousfht of William Stillman, price 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



223 



£10," written on the inside of the k)ng- door, which shuts away 
the pendulum and ponderous weights, stands in the east room. 
Old-stvle bureaus, mahogany bedsteads, looking glasses Avith 
the painted pictures in the upper section, wheels of all 
descriptions, from the large wool wheel to the quill and little 
linen wheel can there l)e seen. 

Could you but look within the closed wooden door of the 
high cupboard in the upper ciiamber, you would find such a 
quantity of glass, pewter and wooden ware, as we seldom see 




JOSHUA CARDNER HOUSE. 



together. A half dozen bowls of different designs, pink, blue and 
pencil ware, plates, cups and saucers, tall [)itchers, tea pots and 
tea Caddys. The wooden plates, oldest of all, (]uite rough on 
the surface, from hard wear, glass decanters antl mugs, pewter 
plates, poringer and molasses cup, fill the shelves. 

Even the third story has its quota of olden days, for 
there we find several hogsheads which never were put in through 
the doors, but are so huge, that they must have l)een placed 
there before the outside was covered and l)oarded up, and pre- 
sumably built for the safe keeping of grain. In another 



224 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



apartment are the "qiiiltiuo- frames" set up with a patchwork 
quilt on ready to be tied. In tlie large stone chimney near the 
roof, is the smoke house, where jiork and beef hams are even 
yet di'ied. This house liolds much that is modern in furniture 
and many collections of minerals and books in their separate 
cases. Here also is found another proof of John Denison 
being a shop keeper, for in a little old l)rown book is written 
" Abiel Gardner's account book, bouglit of John Denison in 
1746." Within this house lives the fifth generation, bearing 




BRIGCS JEFFORDS HOUSE. 

the same name, and here the sweet " Thee and Thou *' is heard, 
and most fair and orracious are the faces which look out from 
within their quaint drab bonnets. 

Very near the gate through wdiich you return to the road, 
stood, till a short time ago, a very old house, built in the early 
part of 1700, by Briggs Jeffords. One of the very first dams 
thrown across the Pawcatuck Kiver, a little below the pleasant 
village of White Rock, was named for this man, and he lost 
his life here ; while opening the fish gap, he slipped into the 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 225 

■water and was soon diowiied. After Mr. Jeffords death this 
house and farm was sold to Caleb (rardner, brother to Joshua 
fijirdner, 8r., who, wlien he moved to Ohio, sold it in 179(5 to 
his brother Joshua, who owned it for a time. Then it was 
purchased by William Vincent, Sr., before 1800, who moved 
from there in 1802, and his son William afterwards lived here 
for a time, when he sold it to Thomas Hinckley and again it 
was sold by him to Mr. John Pendleton, who owned it until 
his death. It was then bought by Ivebecca Scott, more 
familiarly known as Becky Scott; she, married .Joseph Herring- 
ton, and was quite noted about here as a fortune teller, con- 
sequently her house was often frequented by those eager to 
peer into their future destiny. After their death, the house 
was not again used as a dwelling ; being so dilapidated, it was 
torn down and the last of it was burned in the spring of 1902. 
A mile or so below here, is the old Adam States, Jr., house, 
situated a little back from the road, in a grassy meadow. It is 
a Avood-colored, one story and a half house, now uninhabited, 
with the windows somewhat broken and altogether fast going 
to decay ; but it has known other and better days. It was 
built about the middle of 1700, by ^Nlr. James Noyes, familiar- 
ly called "Jimmy," who married Margaret Woodburn, of Pres- 
ton, Connecticut. Four of tlieir daughters died in young woman- 
hood and are buried in the family lot near this house. In 
1804, after his wife and children were all dead, he went to live 
with his son-in-law, Adam States, Sr. who lived at the Went- 
worth place, which was built on his own land and probably by 
him, for his daughter Esther, when she married INfr. States, 
and here he remained till his death in 1800. His grandson, 
Adam States, Jr., had married Fanny Chesebrough in December, 
1800, and begun housekeeping at the Joseph Smith farm : there 
they lived for a time and then for a while at Wequetequock, till 
his brother Noyes died on Long Island, when he inherited the 
old Noyes homestead, and they came there to live and remained 
till their death. 



226 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



About this old place cluster many pleasant memories of by- 
gone days. Among them it is told that when the great preacher 
Whitefield, made his seventh and last visit here in 1769, going 
from Providence to Norwich on horseback, he stopped at this 
house and asked for water for his horse. Mr. Noyes invited 
him into the house and gave him a cordial invitation to dine 
with them and offer prayer, which he did remarking " that 
prayer and provender hindereth no man on his journey." 




J HE IIMMV NuVES llOMKSTEAD. 



Below here, coming down to the village of Westerly, we see 
on the side hill near Downerville, and a little below the Catholic 
church and parsonage, the old Helmn's house, a good deal 
changed, but still with the old gambrel roof which it had when 
it was built. It was occupied about 1760 by Oliver Helmns 
who married Katharine Greenman. This Mr. Helmns owned 
a large tract of land about Berry Hill. In this house many 
different families have been sheltered, some have kept store 
here, and again it has been used as tenements. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



227 




THE HELMNS HOUSE. 



In Westerly, on the Pawcatuck side, near the ^' Dry Bridge'' 
(as it is called), where a grand, old, elm tree throws its lights 
and shadows over house and yard, stands the old homestead of 
Mr. George Sheffield, bnilt )iy him abont 1800, His daughter 









IHK SHEITIELIJ HOLSE. 



228 



t)l,n HOMKS IN STOMNCM'ON. 



ni;\irit>il Mr. (Jeoruv (iavitt wholivoil luMV, w Iumi \\c \\;is(lu> siu^-- 
iiii;- srliool tiMi'IuT at tlit> Ixoatl Churi-li, toi- so\i'ial winlois, 
;il>oiit IS 10. IK' li;ul a tiiio \iiirr;iiul riijoNrd miisu\ aiul his 
liaii(lsonu> taco w (UiKl s^low w iili tMitliiisiasm wIumi lu' was icarh- 
iiiL^'. Many \ I'l rtMiuMulu'r llu'st' Suinlav oMMiiiii^s with [ilcasuio, 
w hoii those oraiul o\{\ liiiu's aiul hymns w i>ri> loaiiunl, uiuUm' his 
iiisinifliou. It is \ rl owiuhI 1i\ \\\c (ia\ill laiuiK. 

A littK' iMsi 111 hori'. slaiuls the oKl hoiisr witli ils i'\UMisi\o 
ironiau'c w hirh t\)riiu'rl\ l)i'h>n<i"0(l to Pr. William Kohiiisoii, a 




I'K, WllllWl KOi;|\SON HOI si 



plnsiiian ol tho olA srhi)ol. \\v kopt a hoardiiiL;- housi> Iumo, ami 
mam now 1\ -w odiK-J oou[>los hi'^aii tluaf marriod lit'o wiihiii its 
walls. Ill this sami' lu)usi>. iiptMi tho oihor sido, also lived Mr. 
Eliiis r>fow 11, horn ahont ITt!'', who mariioil llop'^ihah \\'hito: 
ho mil ilu' L^risi mill, o\\ nod l>\ Mr. .lonalhan Uiohardson, 
whioh was siiuati'd a littlo t'lirihor to tho oast, and oloso to tho 
rivor. Mr. r>ri>w n's son flohn livod at lUio timo in tho i>ld 
Stanton honso on tho road whi('h loads to llinokU>y Mill, w horo 
ho ow nod a i^roat di^al ot land alumt thoro, and was a \ ory fioh 
man t\>r tliosi' da\s. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



229 



On the ojiposite side of the street and ([uite near to the 
Pawcatuck liank, stands the Thomas Noyes lionse, budt before 
1800 Iiy ]\Ir. kSnmnel Brand. It is a large, square edifice with 
the windows full of small, peculiar-shaped, window [)anes. It 
was in former days a house of a good degree of grandeur, but 
now the street has become almost a business one, and dwelHng 
houses of the modern architecture are built on a more retired 
street. In this house, long aijo Mr. Jesse Moss first began his 




THOMAS NOVES HOUSE. 



business career by keeping store, and giving out weaving to 
many different families. 

Nearer the bridge is the so-called - Martha Xoyes '' house, 
built and owned by Mr. Samuel Brand, Jr., who kept a tavern 
there nearly a century ago. 'J'his liouse is partially concealed 
by the numerous small stores which have been built recently 
in front of it. This Martha was the wife of Joseph Xoyes and 
daughter of Capt. Samuel and wife Abigail Thompson. C'apt. 
Samuel was for many years the hos[)itable keeper of "The Inu,"' 
as this house was originally called : he was a great athlete in 



230 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



liis younger days, and it is told of him that he would place nine 
large, empty hogsheads, with one head out, in a row, and then 
would jump from one into the other and so on till he reached 
the ninth. After his death, his widow, Abigail, kept the tav- 
ern, and among other distinguished guests who were sheltered 
here was a Mr. Fowl, a native of Watertown, Mass., he was 
a midshipman from the Frigate, " Constitution " lying at New 
Loudon, in 1811, and who was taken care of for a week or more, 
after having been wounded in a duel, which took place near the 




I'AL'I. HABCOCK PLACE. 



present Quarry Hill. He lived only about three weeks and is 
buried at the Fort Griswold cemetery at Grotou. Of this inci- 
dent Rev. Frederick Denison tells us in his book of Westerly 
and its Witnesses. 

Driving down Mechanic Street, past the row of pleasant 
houses beyond the fine Printing Press works of the Cottrell 
Brothers, and on past the Thread ]Mill, which is a comparatively 
new industry here, and along the bank of the Pawcatuck river, 
whose sides are bordered by houses and small farms, we come 
to a turn in the road which takes one up a long hill, upon the 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 231 

summit of which stands the historic Paul Ijabcock house, built 
about IToO. It commands a grand view of country, river, and 
even out to the ocean. It looks scarcely like an old house, 
being so well preserved, built in the style of the mansion house, 
square, large and high with the deep-throated ciiimney in the 
middle, the front door in the center, and large rooms on either 
side, while a fine row of elms are before the door. 

Dr. Joshua Babcock, who built this house, was at one time 
Chief Justice of Rhode Island's Superior Court. He gave this 
house to his son, Col. Harry Babcock, for life and at his death 
it was to belong to his son Paul, who married Nancy Bell, and 
later, her cousin, Lucj- Bell. He had fifteen children and lived 
here, where also Col. Harry lived and raised his children. 
Dr. Joshua Babcock was one of the most celebrated and well- 
known country physicians in all the section about here. He 
was very methodical in everything; a person of about the 
middle height, rather spare frame, light and active. He had 
three sons, Henry, Luke and Adam, who was the principal one 
in the leather l)reeches lawsuit. 

Luke was a a clergyman, and Col. Harry was a most remark- 
able man ; he was always a brave officer and was in the French 
and Indian wars. He was Captain of the battle of Fort George, 
]Major in 1756 and Colonel at Ticonderoga, where he led his 
regiment at its capture, and where he leceived a wound in the 
knee while pushing his men within forty yards of the breast- 
work, and had to be borne from the field : three of his officers 
were also wounded. When the news leached England, the 
royal approbation was expressed through General Amherst, 
who in his letter to Rhode Island, complimented Col. Babcock 
in the warmest terms. Some time after, wlieu Col. Harry was 
in England, he was allowed an appointment with the (^ueen, 
who upon meeting him, graciously extended her hand to be 
kissed, but Col. Harry, with a most courteous bow, threw his 
arm around her neck and gave her a kiss upon her cheek ( and 
Avas not reprimanded). This historic old Babcock place is now 
owned l)v the Cottrell P>rothers of Westerly. 



232 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



A little further dowu, near the Pawcatuck river, where the 
village of Avoudale, on the Rhode Island shore, can be plainly 
seen, at a bend in the road, stands the old house, now almost in 
ruins, of Alexander Bradford. He was an intelligent man, 
quick at repartee, but sometimes profane. The story is told 
of him and Squire Woodbridge, who was a great man and large 
land owner of those days, that at a town meeting which was 
then held in the meeting-house at the Koad, the question of the 
acceptance of a layout of a road or liighway, from Wequete- 





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quock to the south part of Pawcatuck, was presented by Col. 
Bradford, and after being discussed, Avas voted down. This 
naturally vexed the Colonel, and he vented his feelings, during 
the meeting, by a volley of profane words, which Esquire 
Woodbridge answered by saying that " He was astonished to 
hear a man of his standing use such language in the liouse 
of God,'" to which Col. Bradford replied, " Tut, tut, Plsquire 
Woodbridge, 3"on pray a good deal, and I swear a good deal, 
but we don't either of us mean anything by it." 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



233 



Another story is told of Col. Bradford and Esquire W ood- 
brido-e, that one day when the Squire was carting off stones 
from^ome of his -ood ground and depositing it upon the old 
Indian graveyard, at Taugwank, near Echo Farm, CoL brad- 
ford drove along, stopped and called out to him, in his usual 
tone of voice, " if he helieved in the resurrection. ' " \V hv do 
you ask me that question i " replied Squire Woodl.ndge. 
" Oh'" said the Colonel, " nothing, only I was thinking what a 
damnable load you were giving those Indians to rise with. 




THE DAVIS HOMESIEAD. 



The house which stand, near Osbvook Gvove " ^^ - f^ 
i. a historic h,ndmavk. It has been m the Dav.s fa nn ma 
long time, at least 137 years, and no one knows exa tl n 

it was built, but it is supposed to have I-" ;■«-'"; -> ^^ 
ITOO by Thomas Stanton, gvandson of Thon.as t e Ind a 

teVter, who n.anie,! Thankful Denisou ,n ,o an 
was left bv them to their son Robert, who leased the [.lace n 
-.I5 to /ohn Davis, who was then -'y -v-Ueen yea . 1 , 
and his father, .b.lu, Davis of Lon,' Island, i.uuha.ed 
1772. 



234 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



This house was a grand inausion for the time in which it was 
built, and is now in such a good state of preservation, both 
inside and out, that one cannot realize that it was built so lonsr 
ago. The massive timbers used in the frame and the original cov- 
erings of shingles, three feet in length, are still intact. The 
rooms are very large and are elaI)orately wainscotted. In one 
corner of the east room or parlor is a large niche or buffet, 
hand-carved at the top like a fluted shell, with closed doors 
below. It contains quaint shelves, where can now be seen old- 




Wll.I.IAM STANTON HOUSE. 



style china. The front staircase railing, hand-carved of solid 
mahogany, was brought from England, and one of the panels 
in the side of the stairwa}' is six feet long. The hall is wains- 
cotted in broad panels and all the rooms have deep cornice and 
corner posts. 

The west great room, nineteen by twenty feet, has the cup- 
board over the fireplace with glass doors, through which can be 
seen the blue and white crockery, while on the high mantle in 
the long kitchen rests the glass, brass and iron candlesticks, 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



235 



the pink and blue plates and platters for fish with a separate 
china drain upon which the fish rests. This room had the 
original fireplace of by-gone days, nearly eight feet in length 
and correspondingly deep, with the crane, from which hangs 
the ancient trammel for the pots and kettles. The large brick 
oven at the end reminds one of the quantities of good things 
which have been drawn from its capacious depths, during the 
years that this house has sheltered so many generations. It is 
now owned bv the sixth John Davis in direct descent, and the 




Ill'J.MA- --1AN luN 



beautiful grove, near the water, a little to the south, called 
Osbrook, gives its euphonious name to this ])lace. 

A short distance from here is the William Stanton house, 
built a hundred and fifty years ago. It is a one-story house, 
surrounded by a low, white fence, and large bunches of 
fragrant, green box are on either side of the front door. The 
old schoolhouse stood not far from here, on the opposite side 
of the road from the present one, where we now turn, and leav- 
ing the main road, drive through a forest of magnificent trees, 
past several new houses, until at the foot of a hill, we pass 



236 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



through a gate and go up to the old house, built by ]\Ir. 
Thomas Stanton, grandson of Thomas the first, who married 
Thankful Denison about 1713. This is a double, two-stor}', 
wood-colored house, with the large chimney in the center. 
From here you get a most delightful view of the surrounding 
country and adjacent water of the Sound. This has been the 
home of many different families, of whom Mr. Elias Stanton 
was one, as he owned it for some years and sold it in 1829. 
when he went to live at Utica, New York. They made their 




LEMUEL PALMER S HOME. 



trip in their wagon, drawn by stout horses, and accompanied 
by all necessary stock and provisions. 

About a half mile west of here, on the main road to Wequet- 
equock, is the Lemuel Palmer place, built about 1750, by his 
father, James Palmer. It is well preserved,- painted white, and 
does not look a century old. Near this house we see a strange 
freak of nature, an immense elm tree, apparently growing out 
of a large rock. From this house have gone out five beautiful 
brides to grace other homes. ^Irs. Alden Palmer and ]\lrs. 
Henry Smith remained in Stonington, while jNIrs. Henry 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 237 

Ivhodes and Mrs. Paul Palmer went to Trenton, New York, to 
live, and ]\Irs. Zeba Palmer resided in Brooklyn, New York. 
The one brother, John, who grew to manhood, married Mary 
Smith, a loA^ely, whole-souled w^omau, who lived at this place for 
many years, till her husband's death, when she returned to her 
old home in the Borough, at the Col. Joseph Smitli liomestead. 



CHAPTER TENTH. 

" Here is the place, right over the hill 
Runs the path I took, 
You can see the gap in the old ^vall still, 

And the stepping stones in the shallow brook. 

There is the house, with the gate red-barred, 

And the poplars tall. 
And the barn's brown length, and the cattle-yard. 

And the white horns tossing above the wall.'' 

As we think of the early settlers at We(}iiete(]Uock, we see 
the fiue moiuinient so lately erected to their- memory, in the 
graveyard there, overlooking the blue waters of the Cove, and 
here are also a few old houses left standing in a good degree 
of preservation and kept so by their descendants, on account of 
the hoi}' memories of the past. A number of cellars also can 
be seen near here, where once were other historic houses. The 
noted AValter Palmer lived here and several of his sons, and 
the story of the lives of two of them is really pathetic, for 
then as now, accidents and sorrows were the lot of all. 

Elihu Palmer, the oldest son of the second wife of AValter 
Palmer, died at twenty-nine years, from a wound inflicted acci- 
dently by himself, on this wise. He was mowing marsh grass 
near the Cove, with a sc3'the, on the other end of which was a 
spear, and seeing a tish (flounder) in the water, he turned his 
scythe quickly and thrust the spear into the tish, when the 
scythe caught upon his neck, cutting him so terribly, that after 
a time death resulted from the eti'ects of the wound. 

The fourth son of Capt. Walter was Benjamin, born in 1(342, 
in Charlestown, Massachusetts, but he came to Stonington to 
live. It is found upon record that " August 10th, 1G81, Ben- 

238 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



239 



jamiu Palmer brouirtit liome his bride,'" but who she was or 
where she lived is shrouded in mastery, whether there were 
any children, does not appear, but by old deeds, it is shown 
that he gave his lands to his three nephews, Moses, Daniel and 
Jonathan, in return for their good care of him, foi- they were 
to care for him dui'ing hjs life and provide iov him a Christian 




BAI-DWIX HOrSE. 



and decent I)urial. 'I'his was signed February 17th, ITlo lO. 
They fulHlled the trust, for in the burial ground, there may be 
seen his head-stone erected by them. lie died April 1'itli. 
1715/16, aged 74 years. 

Another son of Capt. Walter, Moses, l)uilt his house near at 
hand, wliieli was taken down about 1 X-'>(). The site is now marked 
by the old cellar and the IJalin of (iilead trees. It was later 



240 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



owned and occupied Ijv Capt. William Slack and long known 
as the Slack house. It was of the two-story in front order, 
with a long, low roof in the rear, where one conld easily reach 
the eaves troughs and swing themselves from the open door on 
the north, while the rooms were very large and low. 

Walter Palmer's son Neliemiah built in July, 1700, what is 
now known as the Baldwin house, which stands brown and 
square-roofed just east of the burj'ing-ground, on the road 
formerlv known as the Indian trail to Pawcatuck Rock, where 




UK FISH PLACE. 



Thomas Stanton's trading station was. The rooms in this house 
are all large and high between joints. Tliey have the corner 
cupboard, summer beams and cornice of most of the old houses. 
The land here has been very productive, for in 1822, when one 
Amos Denison lived here, 17,000 lbs. of cheese was made annu- 
ally, and on this farm is the famous " Split Rock " mentioned 
as a landmark in the old records. This is a curiosity, being 
split directly in the middle, one half is turned completely 
around so that the outside faces the other half, and as dyna- 
mite was unknown in those days, surely some other mighty 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 241 

power was at woik here. Many families have made their liome 
here, and ^Ir. Nehemiah (iallup, who is yet living- was horn 
here in 1817. It is now owned hy Dr. (ieorge D. Stanton of 
the Borough. 

The old Fish house at We(;[uetequock has a special interest 
for the Road Society, as Capt. Daniel Fish lived there Avitii his 
wife Sarah, who was daughter of Oliver and Sarah Ililliard, 
and niece of the one who gave the land for the cemeter}' at the 
Road. At ISIr. Fish's death, his widow became the owner by 
will of this house, provided she did not marry again, but if she 
did, the place reverted to the First Congregational Society. 
Mrs. Fish not being quite satisfied with the will, and having an 
offer of marriage from Mr. Thomas Stanton, she accepted him, 
and so the Road Society acc^uired its new possession, which it 
still retains, while she went to live at ^Ir. Stanton's house, but 
a, short distance east of this, and after his death she soon mar- 
ried again, Mr. John Nichols, and lived for a time at Preston, 
but for some reason, finally returned to Stonington, and lies 
buried in the Cemetery near the Church at the Road. 

This old Fish house has sheltered numerous families. In 
1785 Reuben Palmer, who married Zerviah Stanton of Preston, 
lived here, but it has now been rented for a long term of years. 
It is still standing, worn brown from age and the elements, 
being built about 1740, a gambrel-roof, one-story house. At 
the center on the north and south sides, are two small lean-tos 
with outside doors in each. The timbers are somewhat decayed, 
the windows broken or gone, and it is one of the three old 
houses in town, uninhabited and fast going to decay. 

Further down near the water, over the railroad bridge and 
through a gate, is the Joseph Chesebrough place, formerly 
known as the Dr. Nathan Palmer house, built by him in 173(3. 
It is a large, double, two-story house, with three windows on 
the east side above and below; a new style porch has been added 
recently. Dr. Palmer lived here till he moved to the Borough 
and built a new house there, when his son, Denison Palmer, 



242 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



lived here for jears. From this house have gone out to homes 
elsewhere, nineteen brides. 

If you visit this old homestead now, 3'ou will tind the hostess, 
Miss Fanny, able and willino; to tell you of many interesting 
and liistoric facts in the Palmer, Stanton and Cheseln'ouofh 
families, who formerly lived about there, of the Rufusin house 
and nine daughters, who were considered such beauties that 
people came from a great distance to see them. She will show 
you the chimney stone taken from Samuel Stanton's house, 




DR. NATHAN PAI.MEK's HOME. 

(which used to stand southwest of the Baldwin house) marked 
with an S. and I. and the date 1T4S, also having upon it a rude 
outline of the house, that was two stories in front and one in 
the rear, and in which Mr. Elias Stanton lived at one time. 

In the Dr. Palmer house is the usual open fire-place where 
we see the iron fire-frame ; the small tea-kettle suspended from 
the crane, and the fore-stick resting on the little black iron 
fire-dogs. Above this are the panels, cornice and summer beams. 
In the corner cupboard are some tine old pieces of crockery. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



243 



The flip mug and tureen, with the figure of the Piioenix rising out 
of its ashes. The phites of pink and l)hie, witli their cups and 
saucers rest u[)on the shelves. Near tlie little, old, round, center 
table is the small rocker and the high-backed straight chairs, 
and in our mind's eye, we see the forms which used to flit 
tlirough these pleasant rooms and almost hear the conversation 
in the long ago. 

The story is related of one of the Palmer girls from Wecjue- 
tequock, who had met and become ac([uainted witli a young man 




JAMES BAbCUCK HuME.-. i fcAD. 

from the north part of the town, who after a time concluded 
to marry her, and tliey became engaged. He was evidently of 
a moderate and unim[)assioned nature, for after they had been 
euo-ao-ed to be married for over two years, he received a letter 
from her, declaring that she would never marry him, but giv- 
ing no reasons; of course he was much surprised and ciiagrined, 
and went at once to her brother to tind out the reason froni 
him, but finding that he was as ignorant of the real cause as 
iiimself, lie insisted that he should find out from his sister and 
report to him, so the brother enquired of her the cause of her 



244 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

sudden change of plans, but she refused to tell ; npon Ijeing 
urged and urged, she final!}- said, " Well, if you must know, 
I'll tell you. I have known him for three years, and been 
engaged to him for two years, and he has never offered to kiss 
me, and I vow I won't marry him,'" and she never did. 

About halfway between Westerly and Stonington, stands the 
house owned by ^Ir. Daniel Brown, and a little to the south- 
east, we see a gate which leads through a pasture to an old 
house, built by ]Mr, James Babcock in 1740, as a board which 
is over the front door testifies. This James was the son of 
James and Sarah (Vose) Babcock, wdio married Phebe Swan 
in 1730. Their grandson, Elihu Babcock, who married Eliza- 
beth Jeffries, also lived, died, and was buried here, and his 
daughter married Joshua Robinson, who lived at this very 
place for a time, before he built the new house which stood 
where Mr. Brown's house now stands. This Babcock house 
was somewhat rebuilt by oNIr. Daniel Brown in 1882, but it is 
still a most quaint looking building, gambrel-roof and shingled 
on three sides, with only one window in the whole east side. 
It has the big stone chimney in the middle and the heavy oaken 
outside door, whose threshold is worn smooth by the man}- feet 
which have passed over it during these one hundred and sixty 
years. 

Uncle Harr}- Hinckley's house stands very near the road- 
side, with the head of the Cove quite near the back of the 
house, and at low tide can be seen the stepping-stones, just 
below, which Avere used for crossing the stream. This house 
with improvements and additions was made from the old dwel- 
ling place of Fergus McDowell, the Scotch Irishman, whose 
old house stood a little north of this, in past the crib, in the 
latter part of 1600. This Fergus McDowell had a brother 
Archibald and sister Jane in Ireland, and he married Mary, 
daughter of William Clesbey, who probably owned the land 
about here, as there is yet an orchard known as the Clesbey 
orchard somewhat to the northwest of this house, which is 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



245 



mentioned in the old deeds, giving the boundaries of these 
lands. 

William Chesebrough, grandson of the first William, married 
INIary McDowell, daughter of Fergus, and lived at the old 
Chesebrongh place, where the first William lived, but a shoit 
distance from Mv. Irtis ^Main's present residence. Their son, 
King David as he was called, was a remarkable man, and dif- 
ferent opinions locate his house (which he bought of Charles 
Chesebrough) in several places upon this road. 




HAKKV HINCKLEY HOUSE. 

The deed is as follows : To all people to whom these presents 
shall come, (Greeting,— Know ye, that I, Charles Chesebrough 
of Stonington, County of New London, State of Connecticut, 
Farmer, for the consideration of £t)()0, lawful money to me in 
hand paid to my full satisfaction by David Chesebrough of New- 
port, County of Newport, State of Rhode Island, Gentleman, do 
sive, grant, bargain, sell, alien and convey and confirm unto 
Mm, the said David Chesebrough, his heirs, executin-s and 
administrators and assigns forever, one certain tract or i)arcel 



246 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



of land, lying and being in Stonington aforesaid, at a place 
known and called by the name of Wequetequock, and contain- 
ing by estimation 68 acres, be the same more or less, and is 
bounded and butted as follows : 

Beginning at a mear stone, standing by Wequetequock Cove, 
about fourteen rods east of the dwelling house of the said 
Charles ; thence northwesterly by William Chesebrough's land 
about 89 rods to a mear stone, thence northwesterly by said 
William's land to a mear stone standino' in the dividino; line of 
the said Charles" and William's land which is the south bound 




KING DAVID LllE>l'.l;K(.iLi.ll .'^ ICslAlE. 



of a lot of land the said Charles sold to Denison Palmer, thence 
northwesterly by said Palmer's land to a mear stone standing 
in the dividing line of Moses Yeoman's land, thence south- 
Avesterly by ^Nloses Yeoman's land and Samuel Chesebrough's 
land, to a mear stone standing in a corner of a stone wall, about 
twelve rods easterly of the said now Samuel's dwelling house. 
Thence east and southerly by said Samuel's land to a mear 
stone standing by a ditch and swamp, adjoining a lot of land I 
bought of Denison Palmer, known and called by the name of 
Clesby orchard, thence west southerly by said ditch in swamp, 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 247 

by said Samuers land, until it comes to Wm. Chesel)rou_<rh's 
field, thence east southerly l)y said William's land to a lot of 
land I sold to Henry Burch, then l)y said Vnnvh land to the 
Cove. Keference beinir had to the Deed of the said Burch hmd. 
Thence by said Cove to the first mentioned bound. To have 
and to hold the above granted and barijained premises, forever." 
Signed by Charles Chesebrough in ITTT. 

The house which has been pointed out to some of our oldest 
inhabitants as the home of King David, is now known as the 
Charles Main house, wliich is situated east of the highway in 
Weqnetequock, and nestled among the vines and climbing 
roses which cover the west side. It is a low, gambrel-roof 
house, with the front door at the west end facing tlie road. On 
the east side of the house, in an underground room, was his 
store, where he sold merchandise to the neighboring })eople, 
and it has been kept for this same purpose all down the years, 
even during the lifetime of Mr. Charles Main. 

King David was born in Stonington in 1702, but went to 
Newport into business as a merchant. He married there, first, 

Abigail , and she died in 1788, aged 27 years, and is buried 

in the common ground at Newport. Later he married Abigail 

Rodgers, and still later, ^Margaret and had four children; 

one daughter married an English officer, and went to London to 
live. At the time of the Revolution, when the British held 
possession of Newport, they confiscated all his merchandise, and 
he returned in 177G to Stouington, where his grave-stone 
records " that he sat down on his estate,"" where he lived till his 
death in 1782. His lirothei', Mr. Thomas Chesebrough, was 
educated at Harvard College and received several degrees. On 
his stone in the Stouington cemetery is this inscription: " lie 
was a good scholar, a great historian and well acquainted with 
the Liberal Arts and Sciences. He died with great resignation 
in the prime of life, unmarried, December 11th, 17.")4, aged 48 
years."" 

A few rods to the north, standing on the l)ank and overlook- 



248 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



ing the Cove is the low, wood-coh)ved house built, in 1787, hy 
Gov. Thurston of Rhode Island, and purchased by ]\Ir. Samuel 
Stanton of Mr. Ephraim Williams. It was occupied for a long- 
time by Mr. Constant Taylor, before Mr, Stanton lived there. 
The rooms sliow nif.ny marks of age and the great chimney 
fills a large portion of the upper chambers. On this same spot 
some years before, stood a large house of the two-story in 
front order with a long, low roof in the rear. It was used as a 
tavern stand, and a school was also kept in this tavern-room at 




HANTON HOUSE. 



one time by ^Ir. Ezra Denison. The old sign post which onc^ 
held a creaking sign remained long after the house Avas gone, 
and here notices were posted up, and here also " trainings " 
were held. In this old house some have thought that King 
David Chesebrough lived. 

The house a little to the north, which stood where now Mr. 
Irtis Main lives, was called the Bill Batter or Silver Billy 
house. It was large, tAvo-story with the long sloping roof, and 
was taken down about 1842. This place was owned by Mr. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



249- 



Jonathan Chesebroiigh shortly before its removal, and stories 
are told of a man who was deranged, being kept here for some 
time and by his screams frightened children when they passed 
on tlieir way to school, and by others it was said to be haunted. 
The present house was put up by the Collinses for Mr. Elias 
Denisonasahome for ]\Ir. George Congdon, a blacksmith, who 
came from Voluntown to assist him in his blacksmith Avork, 
afterwards he moved to North Stonington and the house was 
enlarged to its present size. 




THE BIRTHPLACE OF CAPT. CHARLES P. WILLIAMS. 

The old house standing on the hill above tiie Chapel, liaving 
a fine view of the Cove and Atlantic Ocean, was one of the 
mansion houses of the day, built as a half house originally, l)y 
George Palmer about 1783, and was exchanged by him, with a 
Mr. Butler for land in New York state, which when he went 
there to settle upon, lie found that the title was not good and 
so returned. 

This house stands, large and brown, on a rocky hill, with the 
roof sloping down to the windows of the first story in the rear^ 



250 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



with a lean-to on the north side, while on the broad west side, 
above and below, are three windows. Tlie old-fashioned ontei- 
door on the sonth and west side, with their old-style knockers 
and the hand-made cornice in the rooms, all testify of age. 
This house was occupied by Mr. Ephraim Williams after he 
married his second wife in 1787, and here his son, Capt. Charles, 
was born. It is now the property of the Second Congrega- 
tional Society, having been given to them by Capt. Williams 
in his will, thus giving help through all time to that church. 

Many other families have dwelt in tliis house in the last 
hundred years, among them, ]Mr. Isaac Wheeler, Jr., who lived 
here when the schoolhouse was built which stands there now, 
though somewhat changed, the door having been put in the 
middle when it was formerly at the corner, and the building 
turned to face the road, as it used to stand with end to the big 
boulder by the road, which was a good place for the scholars to 
spring upon from the door and then slide off into the road. 
This rock was finall}* split up and used for the foundation of 
the chapel built there some years later. This schoolhouse was 
built in 1811 by subscription and was considered the finest one 
in town, with its arched I'oof, while the number of children on 
the list then was over ninety. 

The first grist mill iu Stoningtoii was also built near here in 
1662 and stood a little northeast of the dwelling house occu- 
pied a few jears ago by Mr. Elias Denison's family. The old 
mill was sold in 1663 to ^Iv. Luke Bromley, who run it for a 
number of years, and after him came many other millers who 
operated the mill. About 1760 Capt. Andrew Palmer lived in 
the mill-house which stood near, a low, double, one-story affair 
with sloping roof, having the front door not quite in the middle 
of the house, for on one side of it was a room much larger than 
the other, having two windows, wliile the room on the other 
side had only one. Quite near, standing in the line of the old 
stone-wall, was the well Avith its long sweep and bucket, free to 
all passers-by on this road. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



251 



Mr. Elias Deiiison, who has lived in We(iuete(|Uock for over 
isixt}' years, can well remember the Old Mill house, which stood 
in the very place and over the very cellar where Mr. Asa Vin- 
cent built his barn, now standing-, just in the rear of his house 
and that of Mr. ^)enison\s. It belonged then to Mr. xVndrew 
Palmer, but it seems quite probable that it was the verv first 
mill-house built in 1061, which is mentioned in the agreement 
signed by the early settlers, one of whom was Elihu Palmer, 
brother of Capt. Andrew's great-grandfather, w ho died without 




1,1. IAS CHESEBROrc.H HOL^SK. 

children, and his will was I)urned at New London in ITNl, and 
the only knowledge we have of his ])roi)erty is fioni a deed on 
the Stonington records. 

This house was l)uilt in the manner of the old houses of that 
date, very similar to the old Jackson house in Portsmouth, New 
Hampshire, which was built in IbiU. It faced tlie south and 
the road went in front of the house, which was a story and a 
half building, with the noi'th roof sloi)ing so that the plates 
rested on the ground and with only one small window in the 
gable end, east and west. In the early i)art of ISOO this was a 



252 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 



very old house, and no other is remembered as being built in 
this manner about here so that it seems evident that it was the 
very first mill-house. The old mill stood a little further east 
and quite near the water. In this old house Mrs. Mary Chese- 
brough Fish, widow of Elisha, taught school, and after it 
became too dilapidated for a home, it was used as a blacksmith 
shop by Mr. Abel Crandall for some time, but finally was taken 
down and the barn built over the cellar. 
I^^Turning at the Samuel Stanton house and passing through 




EZRA CUESEKROL'GH HOUSE. 



several gates, you will climb " Tripe Hill," at the summit of 
which stands the Elias Chesebrough house, from which a fine 
view is obtained of the nearby valle3's and hills, while the 
grand, old Atlantic ocean in the distance can be plainly seen. 
This large, double, wood-colored house was built in the latter 
part of 1700. It opens into an old-fashioned garden on the 
east side, which is full of vines and shrubs. 

Mr. Elias Chesebrough lived here in 1793, and married 
Lucretia Palmer, sister of Sarah, who married Mr. Chesebrough's 
brother Ezra, and resided a half mile further on, where through 
pastures and orchards, up hill and down, over rocks and through 



OLD HOxMES IN STONINGTOX. 253 

gates, you follow the path and wend your way in "Shaektown " 
as it used to be called, till you reach this small, one-story house, 
resting- contentedly here amid the environments of nature. 
Could these old walls speak, they would tell much that would 
interest us of this neighborhood and its social life before 1800. 
Here, Mr. Jesse Dean, who was Town Clerk in ISO 7, holding 
the office for over twenty years, at the Dean Mills, lived 
the latter part of his life, with his daughter Nancy, who mar- 
ried Mr. Ezra Chesebrough, Jr., in 1828. 

And so at last we come again to Wequetequock, where our 
ancestors first came, and although there are a few other century 
old houses, yet standing in town, their history is shrouded in 
oblivion or unknown to the writer. Could these have been 
traced, they would doul)tless have proven most interesting, but 
still we find that Stoniuffton is rich in her " Old Homes." 



ADDENDA 

CUSTOMS AND FASHIONS. 

The food which our aiicestovs ate was chiefly game and shell 
fish, with maize or Indian corn, wliicfi the}' planted, havino; put 
in each hill a fisli, as the Indians had taught them. Then, 
there were bears, wolves and deer, also squirrels and rabbits, 
and mau}^ a dainty dish was served from this wild game. 
Their breakfast was often of salt meat and bean soup, seasoned 
with herbs, called bean porridge. For the dinner, which was 
at noon, they had boiled beef and ])ork, Indian pudding, wild 
game, potatoes and turnips. Pumpkins were cooked in various 
ways. Succotash (corn and beans ) was made in the summer, 
and samp (corn bruised and boiled and eaten with milk) was 
served in the fall. At supper, the cold meats aud vegetables, 
left from the dinner, with little cakes made from corn meal, rye 
or Inickwheat was eaten. Their drink was usually what nature 
provided; milk, beer and cider, for as early as 1654, laws wei'e 
made regarding the sale of strong beer and cider, and there 
was no tea or coffee during the seventeenth century. 

Their table ware was plain : wooden and pewter platters, 
]>itchers, plates, pans and spoons were often seen, and some- 
times wooden trenchers were used for plates, though some of 
the planters brought from England, silver plate, such as silver 
tankards, beakers, flagons, spoons, cups, knee and shoe buckles 
and buttons. A little later the " Silver Luster Ware " was 
brought over and it is now eagerly sought for. It looks as 
bright as silver, but is made of platinum on pottery ware, prob- 
ably in Newcastle orShelton, England, and has not been repro- 
duced in modern imitation (so says Mr. N. Hudson Moore). 

254 



OLD HOMKS IN STONINGTON, 255 

Tliey also hrouoht household funiituro and weaiing apparel, 
and there are still preserved some si)eciniens of rich lace ruffles, 
tine embroideries and ornaments of gold and silver, which have 
been handed down in some families, for many succeeding gen- 
erations. 

Small clothes for men, made of I'accoon, wolf, bear, deer and 
sheepskin, as well as cloth, were made to fit very closely to the 
person, and the long stockings woi-n with them which 
came to the knee, were secured l)y buckles, while shoes with sil- 
ver or brass buckles completed the outfit. The doublet, which 
was early used, was like a vest, worn double for greater warmth 
and the coats weie long in front, below the knee, and fastened 
to the very bottom, the skirts of which were made very full 
and hung off by being stiffened with buckram. They had a 
narrow hem at the neck instead of the broad collar and some- 
times they were decorated with gold lace, which showed off' to 
great advantage. The fine linen stock, was fastened with its 
large silver buckle at the back of the neck. Sometimes cloaks 
were worn, which were usually red, and hats were made of 
wool and beaver, high-crowned with the brims about six inches 
broad. This inconvenient width probably caused the fashion of 
turning them up at one side, and then on the other, till about 
1730, when a third side was turned up, thus making the three 
cornered, cocked hat worn by gentlemen at that time. 

Watches, rings, ear-rings and tlunnb-rings were also worn liy 
the nen. The wigs worn in those days were of various colors 
and sizes, they were made of horse and goat's hair and even 
the locks of children were cut off. Some wore them white and 
flowing, and others in long curls upon the shoulders. The 
women dressed in garments made from wool, while hemp and 
flax produced lighter weight goods for sununer. As their cir- 
cumstances increased and became better, the richer fal)- 
rics brought from England were i)urchased, and silks and 
satiui- were in great demand. Trailing gowns from a half to a 
yard aud a half long, trinuned with fiounccs.aiid often trcdiopcd 



"256 OLD HOMES IN STOXINGTON. 

(fastened up) at each side were Avorn, while later hooped skirts 
that stood out at the bottom like a wheel were the fashion, but 
these were very inconvenient for passing through doors, both 
at home and at church, and was managed by a sleight of hand 
})erformance. Tall head dresses ornamented the head, having 
one streamer hanging down at the back, till the time of the 
llevolution, and later, smaller ones were made of crepe, lace 
or muslin. There were no wheeled wagons until the middle 
of the eighteenth century, and but very few until after the 
Revolutionary Avar. Chaises were first used, having onl}' two 
wheels, and wagons painted red, made heavy and strong, came 
into use also. Men rode on horseback and even a bridegroom 
must carry his l)ride home on a pillion behind him. 

The preparation of fires was no light task, in these old stone 
iire-places. The foundation Avas a backlog, two or three feet 
in diameter, usually hauled to position on skids or rollers ; in 
front of this Avas the "fore-stick," considerably smaller, both 
lying on the ashes; on them lay the "top stick," half the size of 
the back-log, and all these were usually of green Avood. In 
front of this pile was a stack of split wood, branches, chips 
and cobs. If fire-dogs Avere used, the smaller Avood Avas placed 
on them. These logs lasted several daj^s, were replenished 
Avhen necessary, but the fire Avas not alloAved to go out ; should 
this happen, the fire-pan Avas sent to the nearest neighbor for 
coals, or the flint lock, musket and wad of tow, Avas called into 
requisition. 

Floors Avere of oak, ceilings left unplastered, Avith the oak 
summer trees smoothed and left bare. In the best room and 
chambers, these Avere covered Avith pine. The tables in com- 
mon use Avere long, of pine wood and made Avithout 'eaves. 
The chairs, Avooden or splint bottomed. The best room had 
rush bottomed chairs Avith bannister backs. The trusty and 
useful fire-locks, with their poAvder horns, hung on the .Avails. 
The dresser (like an open cupboard) shone Avith sih'e.* and 
pewter. The tall clock and "chest of draAvers " brought from 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 257 

England graced their respective corners, with an occasional 
chest of later date. The light stands were of the same shape, 
or oblong. The loom, the spinning wheel, the big wheel, quill 
wheel, reel and swifts, all were kept near for immediate use. 
The tlax-brake, swingling knife and coarse hackle were ke})t in 
the barn for the men's use in rainy weather, while the little 
wheel and cards were the grandmother's chief care. 

The early public days were the Fast and Thanksgiving. The 
General Court issued an order in 167*j for a Fast to be held 
every month, but the regular one was not appointed till after 
the Revolution. The people met for public worship as on 
Sunday, no food was cooked or eaten till after sundown, but 
Thankso-ivins: was the orraud festival of the vear. The first 
appointed in Connecticut was on Sept. 18th, 1631. It was held 
on Thursday, and generally late in the month in which it 
occurred. The days, for several weeks previous, were full of 
w^ork for all the household, in anticipation of the return of all 
the children and grand-children of the family, and then fami- 
lies could boast of fifteen or seventeen children and as many as 
one hundred grand-children, who were all to be fed with the 
best the house afforded, and so the fatted calf was killed, the 
finest turkeys and chickens were picked, and the fairest punii)- 
kins and vegetables, were gathered for the day's use, and when 
it arrived, great was the rejoicing as the dear ones gathered 
home. The first part of the day was spent in going to meeting, 
by all that could be spared from the preparations of dinner, 
which was served to them upon their return, and eaten with a 
relish, after thanks had been given. The afternoon was spent 
in games and stories of bear and wolf hunts, Indian wars, rat- 
tlesnakes and everything which had given variety to their 
lives the past year. In the evening, the old, well-worn family 
Bible was brought and laid on the little stand, l)eside the one 
tallow candle, and the grandfather read and returned thanks 
to God, for His care during the year. Though this was the 
annual festival and feast, still there were other merry-makings. 



258 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTOX. 

weddings, hiiskings, apple-parings, quilting parties, and neigh- 
borly gatherings around the great winter fires, where games 
were indulged in, besides sleigh-rides, balls, and " Suzy Bent- 
ley's,"' where Fiddler Bill })layed for the dancers. The whole 
expense of the amusement was paid by the 3'oung people, and 
did not usually exceed a dollar or two, out of which the fiddler 
was paid, and yet the older ones declared, " The}' should be 
ruined by such extravagance." 

The custom at funerals in those times was to give gloves, 
rings, and scarfs. The}" were even distributed at the burial of 
the town's poor, and the expense was charged to the town. 

In the wills of those early days we read, in one, " There 
were mourning suits to be given to his friends." In another, 
the Avill of a young lady, only twenty-one years old, who was 
engaged to be married, in which she directed, " that at her 
funeral, my betrothed husband, John Morgan, be all over in 
mourning and follow next after me," 

In 1820, we read in the bill of expense for a funeral the 
following items : — 

5 yards Cambrick for grave-clothes. One dollar. 

For digging grave, One dollar. 

For one gallon of spirits for funeral, One dollar. 

And so we get a glimpse of some of our ancestors, while of 
many others scarcely anything is known l)eside the meagre 
notice in the records of birth, marriage and death. 

REVIEWS AND Ti;AININ(;S. 

The annual reviews and trainings which we have heard our 
fathers and grandfathers tell about, was to teach military tac- 
tics, and the yearly review was in the fall, wlien all the compa- 
nies met together. On the first ^londay in May occurred the 
yearly training, when one company assembled and the officers 
who had served three years resigned, and new ones were ap- 
pointed. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 259 

The yearly regimental review was quite the event of the 
autumnal season and hundreds of people gathered to see the 
military display. Ten companies, consisting of eight militia, 
one artillery, and one rifle, assenihled fiom Stonington, North 
Stonington, Ledyard, Grotou and A'oluutown, with all their 
officers. The colonel, lieutenant-colonel, major and staff of 
four men, all rode horseback, with feathers in their hats and 
epaulettes on their shoulders. The artillery, rifle company and 
officers were in uniform, but the men in the militia companies 
were not compelled to wear uniforms, but were required to 
have a gun, bayonet, and cartridge box. The review lasted all 
day, and the men got their dinner at a hotel or under a tent 
that was sometimes used. The captain put them through the 
military drill, the loading and tiring was quite an art, and took 
considerable time. The rule for orders were : — 

Attention, every man in the position of a soldier. 

Face to the left. 

Prepare to load (drop the gun, muzzle u})). 

Open pan (open the pan in the gun). 

Handle cartridge (take the cartridge out). 

Tear cartridge (hold with the teeth and tear ofl' the top). 

Prime (put in the powder). 

fchut pan (close up the jwwder in the gun). 

Enter cartridge (put it in the gun). 

Draw ramrod (pull up the ramrod). 

Ram cartridge (push down the cartridge). 

Return ramrod (put it up). 

Ready (take up the gun). 

Aim (point gun). Fire. 

In these days of rapid action and self-loading rifles these 
preparations would seem most tedious, but with llicse old- 
fashioned flint-lock guns, it was all necessary. 

SCHOOLS OF YK OLDLN TIME. 

Throuo-h the kindness of Rev. H. Clay Trumbull, we have the 



260 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

following description of the '* schools of ye olden time " in 
Stonington. Public schools, or common schools, were not 
known in Connecticut, as they now exist in every community, 
in the first quarter of the 19tli centur}-. Before that time 
schools with paid teachers were common. A man teacher 
usually felt it his chief business to be feared for severity and 
the use of the switch. He did little real teaching, although he 
heard children recite lessons, memorized from their books, 
while he punctuated imperfect recitations, wdth a box on the 
ear, or with a blow from his switch. Women, no better quali- 
fied, had their ••' Dame Schools," where younger girl pupils 
went. I have heard my grandmother and mother tell of these 
schools in Stonington w^hich they attended. '' Master Niles " 
was a terror to his pupils, for he used his switch without 
mercy, and with little regard for their good. At last the 
oppressed pupils determined to teach him a lesson. One even- 
ing the}^ entered the school room after school hours ; the boys, 
assisted by the girls, ripped open the cushion in the big arm- 
chair of Master Niles ; they then put in a good number of 
pins, with the points upward, and the cushion was then 
arranged as before, and the room was left. The next morning, 
when the punctual pupils were in their seats, Master Niles 
entered the room and settled himself in his arm-chair, but he 
came up quicker than he went down. AVith a yell, he bounded 
from his chair, and used various irreverent words. That^ was a 
memorable day in this school. Master Niles was never, after 
that, quite so firm in his seat. He felt that ho must be careful 
not to exasperate his pupils too much, and they felt easier in 
consequence. 

A teacher in a " dame school " in Stonington used to tell 
her pupils to bring her sugar and eatables from their homes, 
and she threatened to punish them severely, if they told of it 
to their parents. This continued until they learned the truth, 
and the teacher was dismissed. 

It was about 1830 that " infant schools " were introduced 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 261 

into the country from England. Children who had never 
before been deemed of a school age here, went to these schools. 
One of them, taught by Miss Grace Stanton of Wethersfield, 
was held in Stonington. I attended it, when so young that 
after my lessons 1 would be laid on a pillow, on a bench in the 
school room to sleep, other pupils did similarly. This school 
was held in a room on Main street, above Harmony street, also 
in a room down Wall street, on the east side, which we used to 
call Dr. Palmer's lane, there was a choice select school, kept by 
a Miss Allen. I attended that. It was held in the other half 
of a house occupied by Mercy Golden. Later there was a 
school-house built on the lower part of the lot or garden of my 
father's house (the " Thomas Swan house "), which was burned. 
Miss Rider, daughter of Hiram Rider, of Willington, ('onn., 
taught it for some time. Then Miss Frances Went worth, sister 
of Rev. Dr. Erastus Wentworth, of Stonington, taught the 
school. 

Mr. John Kirby, who married a sister of Elisha Faxon, Jr., 
taught a select school of a high grade. My brother, James 
Hammond Trumbull, went there, as did Samuel Babcock, and 
others of that age. Messrs. Davis and Dawes succeeded Kirby 
as teacher there, and such a school was for a time taught in a 
room above Allen's tin-shop, on the corner of Main and Har- 
mony streets. A select school for young girls was for a time 
taught by Miss Maria Hubbard, in a little room in the rear of 
Dr. George E. Palmer's house. After a while the old Stoning- 
ton Academy was occupied by Daniel S. Rodman, and then by 
William W. Rodman, assisted at times by Nicholas Chesebrough, 
John Terrett, Frederick Denison, and Ellas Hinckley. Again, 
L. L. Wild taught in the Courtlandt Palmer house. Later he 
taught in Lord's Hall, and some of my best training was 
secured in that school. 

The educational influences in Stonington were good, and 
many of us have reason to remember that gratefully. Dr. 
David Hart trained many a young man for college, in the room 



262 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

above Dr. Hart's office, and Miss Lucy Ann Sheffield taught 
from generation to generation of the Boro children, and later 
kept her school on Pearl street, until too old to teach any 
longer. She is well remembered by many in the Boro, and the 
sound of her crutch coming was enough to bring the greatest 
rebel to his senses. 

NAMING THE CROSS STREETS. 

Rev. Mr. Trumbull also tells of naming the cross streets in 
Stonington, which may be interesting to know about in days to 
come. 

" The cross streets Avere named about fifty }"ears ago by some 
of the young men of that da}', in a spirit of fun, but they 
" stuck." Broad street was so called because it was wider than 
most. Hinh, because that in front of the Wadawanuck Hotel 
was the highest part and sloped both Avays, east and west, and 
towards the south. Pearl street was from a girls' school kept 
there, possibly by Miss Lucy Ann Sheffield. G-rand street was 
our finest street at that time. It swept from Mr. Samuel Deni- 
son's hill past the academy, crossing both ]Main and Water 
streets, to the water. Along it were the houses of Mrs. Maria 
Babcock, Capt. Stiles Stanton, and j\Ir. Oiles Smith, with the 
granite post surmounted b}' the bomb, as a memorial of the 
attack of 1814. Clairch street was from a colored family that 
lived on the corner of AVater street, as it was before the day 
of the Episcopal church now standing on it. Union is a short 
street uniting Main and Water streets. Harmony had reference 
to a family that lived on it. The father, when excited by liquor, 
was very ill-natured, and my uncle, J. F. Trumbull, told often 
of seeing the old man in a village store until late in the eve- 
ning, when he would say, " Well, it is time I returned to my 
cottage of peace and contentment." An hour later you could 
go b}" that house and hear the wife screaming, Avhile her hus- 
band dragged her around by the hair of her head ; hence the 
name. Wall street was on account of the high bank wall, 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 263 

extending almost the whole ^vny from Main street to Water ; 
its continuation to the east shore was nicknamed " Sliinbone 
Alley/' What is now Canmni S'piare used to Ije " Town Land- 
ing," where the farn:ers brought their stock and produce to 
those engaged in the AVest India trade. It was the busiest 
part of the town then. Diving street was so called from its 
being a fine place to bathe, and all the boys congregated there 
in the hot summer days. This was the last street in the village 
in 1850. 

STONIXOTOX P.ATTERIES. 

(As given hi/ Dr. George D. Stanton.) 

A rough fort, or water battery, was erected during the Rev- 
olutionary war in the southern part of the village, on the east 
side of the Point, about where the fish market now stands. It 
had several long six and nine pounders and one twelve pound 
carronade. After the war they became dismantled and sunk 
in the ground. The old barracks stood between the present 
Baptist church and the Fanny Keen house, now moved away. 
They were altered into a dwelling house, which was afterwards 
burned. At a session of the General Assembly in New Haven, 
Dec. 14th, 1775, it was ordered that the battery at Stonington 
should have six cannon, two eighteen pounds and four twelve 
pounds. There was much delay in procuring them, and much 
dissatisfaction in consequence, and, in fact, some of them never 
did get here. They were used to defend New J^ondon 
and Groton, and when the fleet finally came here, in 1814, they 
had only two eighteen pounders, which had been sent here in 
1809, and one six-pounder and one four-pounder. They carried 
part of these to the old fort on the east side, and the rest they 
took to a slight battery put up near the Ijreakwater, just south 
of the present Atwood machine shop, and there, as we know, 
they did good work in keeping otf the enemy. The earthwork 
was made somewhat in the form of a crescent, about ten feet 



264 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

long, six feet high, and twelve feet across, in a line as nearly 
east and west as the curved form of construction would allow. 
The guns stood upon a plank platform, and were w'orked into 
position after the recoil occasioned by firing, by means of 
tackles. The entire force that occupied the fort to work the 
guns was fourteen men. At every fire the wheel of the gun 
carriage was marked with chalk, and also a mark on the plank 
platform. When we found the shot struck the brick perfectly, 
we kept the gun exactly on those marks, and I never before or 
since saw such accurate firing from cannon, said Mr. Silas E. 
Burrows. 



POETRY COMrOSEL) UFOX THE BATTLE OF 
STONING TON, 

On f/w Seahoard of Connect lent, 

BY PHILIP FRENEAU. 

In an attack upon the town and a small fort of tiro ijuns, hij the 

Ramillies, seventy-four gun ship, cotmnanded hij Sir Thomas 

Hard;/ : the Pactolus, thirty-eight gun ship ; Despatch, 

brig, and a razee or bomb ship, August, ISI4. 



Four gallant ships from England came, 
Freighted deep with fire and flame, 
And other things we need not name, 
To have a dash at Stonington. 

Now safely moor'd, their work begmi. 
They thought to make the Yankees run. 
And have a mighty deal of fun 
In stealing sheep at Stonington. 

A deacon then popp'd up his head, 
And Parson Jones's sermon read, 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

In which the reverend doctor said 
That they must ti-ht for Stoniiigton. 

A townsman bade them, next, attend 
To sundry resolutions penn'd, 
By which they promised to defend 
With sword and gun, ohl Stonington. 

The ships advancing different ways, 
The Britons soon began to blaze, 
And put the old women in amaze, 
Who feared the loss of Stonington. 

The Yankees to their fort repair'd, 
And made as though they little cared 
For all that came— though very hard 
The cannon play'd on Stonington. 

The Kamillies began the attack, 
Despatch came forward, bold and black ; 
And none can tell what kept them back 
From setting fire to Stonington. 

The bombardiers, with bomb and ball. 
Soon made a farmer's barrack fall ; 
And did a cow-house sadly nuiul. 
That stood a mile from Stonington. 

They killed a goose, they killed a hen, 
Three hogs they wounded in a pen— ^ 
They dashed away,-and pray what then . 
This was not taking Stonington. 

The shells were thrown, the rockets flew, 
But not a shell of all they threw. 
Though every house was full in view, 
Could burn a house at Stonington. 

To have their turn they thought but fair,- 
The Yankees brought two guns to bear, 



265- 



266 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

Aud, sir, it would have made you stare, 
This smoke of smokes at Stoniugtou. 

They bor'd Pactohis through aud throxigh, 
And killed and wounded of her crew 
So many that she bade adieu 
To the gallant boys of Stoniugtou. 

The brig Despatch was hull'd and torn, 
So crippled, riddled, so forlorn, — 
No more she cast an eye of scorn 
On the little fort at Stoniugtou. 

The Eamillies gave up th' affray. 
And, with her comrades, sneaked away. 
Such was the valor on that day 
()f British tars, near Stoniugtou. 

]^)ut some assert on certain grounds 
(Beside the damage and the wounds), 
It cost the King ten tliousaud pounds 
To have a dash at Stoniugtou. 

INSTRUCTIONS TO TflE COMMANDER OF THE SHIP MINERVA. 

The followiuiT letter contributed by i\Ir. Thomas S. Collier 
in the " Collector "' coutaiu.s tlie instructions of the owners of 
the ]\Iinerva, sent to the commander of that vessel before she 
sailed on the cruise that resulted in the capture of the British 
Ship Hannah. 

Boston, May 27th 1781. 
SiK : The private armed Brigt. ^Minerva, mounted with sixteen 
six pounders, which you are commissioned to command on a 
cruise against the enemies of the United States of America, being 
now completely equipped aud ready for sea, you will embrace the 
first favorable wind to get out, taking every proper precaution to 
avoid the British Fleet, should they be off your port as here-to- 
fore. Vour cruising ground Ave leave the choice of to you, only 
would observe that it is our wish, you should not cruise off either 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 'iGT 

New York or Charlesfcown, the danger appearing luuch greater than 
the prospect of advantage in that quarter. If you are fortunate 
euo' to take any prizes, yon will order them into this port. Should 
they by distress of weather arrive at any out port, you will direct 
the prize masters to give me information by express of their situa- 
tion and follov,' such, directions as I may think best for our interests, 
with regard to sucli prize. AVith my best wishes for your success, 
victory and safety, I am, in behalf of the owners of five eights of 
the P. Brigt. ]\Linerva, 

Your most affectionate friend and brother, 

Adam Bahcock. 

P. S. (hi coming home off your cruise I would advise you to 
keep well to the eastward so as to come in thro' the Vineyard 
Sound, where you can get the needed information of the situation 
of the British Fleet. As soon as yon get to New London, you will 
lose no time in clearing the vessel for a second trii). 

Once more sincerely yours, 

A. B. 

Dudley Saltonstall, Esq. Commander of the private arm'd ]'>rigt. 
Minerva, laying at New LTondon. 

DEATH OF THE INDIAN ('AN< )N< 11 KT. 

On April 9th, 167(5, Canonchet was found on the Pawcatuck 
or Blackstone River near tiie villao-e of Pawcatiick. Ilubhard's 
account of his capture is as follows : '' One of the first Englisii- 
men that came up with him was Robert Stanton, a young man 
that scarce had reached the tweutj^-second year of his age, yet 
adventuring to ask him a question or two, to whom this manly 
sachem, looking with a little neglect upon his youthful face 
replied, in broken English, " You much child, no understand 
matters of war, letyour brother m' your cliief come, him wdl I 
answer.*' When told his sentence was to die, he said, '* He 
liked it well, that he should die before his heart was soft or he 
had said anything unworthy of himself." Me was shot under 
the eye of Denison. and the friendly Indians were his execu- 
tiouers," and the following are a part of some lines written by 
Richard S. S. Andios. 



2^8 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

( )n his conquerors he gazed 

With a proud and haughty air, 
And his eye with a flame of hatred blazed, 

Which shook the boldest there : 
And a bitter smile of scorn 

Around his dark lip played, 
While his brow like a cloud by thunder torn, 

Wore a deep and fearful shade. 

" Go bid your chief attend I 

I have no words to spare, 
No breath in idle talk to spend 

With children, as ye are, 
Though captive and in chains. 

Though fettered every limb, 
While a drop of royal blood remains, 

I speak with none save him. 

Ye say my doom is death ! 

Strike, not a moment spare, 
I ask ye not for another breath ! 

1 have no need of prayer I 
Death ! Death ! I like it well ! 

Ere my heart be soft and tame 
Ere my breast with a thought or feeling swell, 

Unworthy of my name. 

AN INDENTURE. 

This Indenture, made this 2Ctb day of April, in the year of our 
Lord 1830, between Joshua Yeonians of Stouington, father of Mary 
A. Yeomans, his daughter, a minor under the age of twenty-one 
years, of the one part and Joseph Robinson of said Stonington on 
the other part, witnesseth : 

That the said Joshua Yeomans hath placed and bound his said 
daughter, Mary A. Yeomans, an apprentice to the said Joseph Eobin- 
son to be instructed in the art, mistry, trade and occupation of house 
wifery and spinning, sewing and knitting, until she arrives to the 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 269 

age of eighteen years, if slie should live tillthat period, and that 
the said Joseph Robinson, on his part doth covenant and agree to 
and with the said Joshua Yeomans, father to said Mary A. Yeo- 
mans, to instruct said Mary A. Yeomans in the art and trade afore- 
said by the best means in his and his wife's power, and teach her 
to read and write an intelligible hand and to feed said girl with 
good and wholesome food and comfortably clothe her and the said 
Mary A. Yeomans shall faithfully serve the said Joseph Robinson 
and obey him and his wife in all things that is lawful, and when 
she has served her time out, the said .Joseph Robinson shall give 
her two suits of good common clothes for every day and a good 
handsome suit and bonnet for Holy days, also a good ])air of com- 
mon shoes, and a good pair of meeting shoes and let her go free. 
It is further understood by said parties that if said girl does not 
stay with the said Robinson, or is hindered by her mother so that 
the said Robinson cannot be benefited by said girl, then this In- 
denture to be void and of no effect: 

In witness whereof we have here unto set our hands and affixed 
our seals the 2Gth day of April, 1830. 

EMANCIPATION. 

Before the Revolution and even for some years after, slaves were 
owned by various families in Stonington, and many of them were 
freed by their desire and that of their masters. On the Records are 
found the legal proceedings which was necessary. The first names of 
the blacks were given but the last was usually that of the family 
to which they belonged, for instance, Zilph, freed by Hannah Avery, 
Flora, freed by Amos York, rrimus Noyes, freed or enian('i])ated by 
Peleg !Noyes and Rena, emancipated by ]'aul Wheeler, in this 
manner runs the legal document : 

" Wheras I'aul Wheeler of Stonington, County of New London, 
hath this day made application to \is the Subscribers, Justices of 
the Peace, for said New London County and the selectmen of said 
town of Stonington, for the time being, for liberty to emancipate 
his negro wench, named Rena, and the said authority and select- 
men having examined said Master and Servant, and find it to l)e 
the desire of the master to emancipate, and likewise the desire of 
said wench to be emancipated, and on examination, fiiuling the 



270 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

wench to be about 34 years of age, well and healthy and capable of 
getting her living, therefore give said Paul Wheeler liberty to 
emancipate, and he is hereby authorized to emancipate and make 
free the said Rena. 

Dated at Stonington, January lOth. 1803. 



LOCATION OF THE OLD HOt^SES. 

The iirst Bentley house was just south of Mr. Charles Champlin's 

house. 
The Iirst Baldwin house was built down the lane, about half a mile 

southwest of Mr. Frank Smith, on Taugwank hill. 
The tirst Bennett house stood a little to the east of the house now 

occuiiieci by Mr. Charles Bennett, at Wolf Xeck. 
The first Billings house stood on the top of Cosaduc Hill, in North 

Stonington, which was then Stonington. 
The first Breed house in town Avas just west of ]\Ir. Henry Breed's 

house, in I'>reed Town, 
The first Lynn Biowu house was situated north of the late Samuel 

Bentley's house and the house now owned and occupied by 

Miss Bertha York, nearly on the line between North Stoning- 

ton and Stonington. 
The first Chesebrough house was near the present residence of ]\[r. 

Irtis Main, in AVequetequock. 
The first Clift house was at Old Mystic, on the turnpike, near the 

Hyde Mills, and is still standing. 
The first Cobb house stood where Mr. Daniel Brown now lives. 
The first Collins house was below the house of Mr. Dudley Brown, 

on the south side of the road, over the wall on the Mystic 

road, above the oak tree. 
The first Copp house is the present Copp house, near Copp brook. 
The first Davis house is the present one in Pawcatuck. 
The first Dean house was at (Juiambaug, east of the quarry there. 
The first Denison house was just west of the |)resent old Denison 

house. 
The first Eells house is on Hinckley hill. 
The first Fanning house was situated southwest of the home of 

Miss Emma A. Smith, on the Stanton land. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 271 

The first Fellows house was at Stoniugtoii, neav the end of the 

point, and had the old windmill there. 
The first Fish house was situated on the road from Okl .Mystic to 

Lantern Hill, where you cross the line from Stonington to 

Ledyard. This same John Fish was the chosen schoolmaster 

for the town of Stonington in 1G79. 
The first Frink house was east of Mr. Latham Miner's house, on 

land now owned by Mr. Fernando W'lieeler, and stood in the 

second lot just over the wall. 
The first Gallup house was situated east of the Lewis house, above 

Greennianville. 
The first Grant house was where Mr. Orrin Grant lived and died. 
The first Haley house was north of the present home of Mr. John 

( 'hesebro. 
The first Hallam house is the home of Judge Gilbert Collins, near 

Stonington, and tliere was also an old Hallam house a little 

west of the liouse of Mr. Nat. Noyes, at the Harbor. 
The first Hancox house stood east of the Borough of Stonington. 
The first Hazard house was where Mr. Erastus Miner now lives. 
The first Hewitt house stood on the Elm (irove Cemetery land, at 

Mystic. 
The first Hilliard house was at the road where ,^L•. Frank Xoyes 

lives. 
The first Holmes house stood in North Stonington, near the 

" Bloody Six " school-house, which was then Stonington. 
The first Kellogg house is near Old Mystic. 
The first ]Mason house was situated east of Fequotsepos brook, on 

land now belonging to Mr. Benjamin Hewitt. 
The first INIain house was a little east of the village of Xorth 

Stonington. 
The first Miner house was at We(juetequock, a little east of the late 

Mr. Harry Hinckley's liouse, but in a year or two he l)uiU the 

second at Quiambaug. 
The first Noyes house was at Anguilla, near the small red house 

now standing. 
The first Page house is the present one now occuiued by ,Mr. .lames 

A. Lord, near the Road Church. 
The first Palmer house was at \N'c<iueteipiock, east of the Cove, 



'212 OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 

'The first Park house was on the western slope of Quaquataug hill. 
The first Phelps house was at the foot or Cosaduc hill, where Mr. 

John York now lives, which was then Stonington. 
The first Prentice house stood where Mr. William Prentice lived 

for many years, near the northeast corner school-house. 
'The first Randall house stood a few rods west of the old home of 

Darius Eandall, between Noith Stonington and Westerly. 
The first Ehodes house is the present one standing beyond Anguilla. 
The first Robinson house stood where Mr. Daniel P>rown's house 

now stands. 
■The first Rossiter house is where Mrs. Thomas Palmer lives. 
The first Russell house is the present one occupied by Mr. Joseph 

Noyes. 
The first Searl house was just west of Sylvia Mills. 
The first Saxton house was situated on the road to Stonington, east 

of the Charles M. Davis farm, and nearly opposite the new 

quarry. 
"The first Stanton house was at Pawcatuck Rock, near Mr. Charles 

Randall's. 
The first Stevens house stood where Mr, Pitts Frink died, near the 

present North Stonington lioundary line. 
The first Stewart house was north of Stewart Hill, in what is now 

North Stonington. 
The first Swan house was on Swan Town Hill, now North Stonington. 
The first Thompson house was where Mr. Eugene Palmer lives. 
The first Wheeler house was on the site of Col. James Brown's 

house. 
The first Whipple house was built north of the house now occiipied 

by Mr. Ezra Cuff, in Flanders, on the east side of the road. 
The first Williams house was near old Mystic, and his cousin, John 

Williams, lived at the same time on the Griswold farm, now 

owned by Dea. B. F. AVilliams. 
"The first Witter house was a little north of Col. James Brown's. 
The first Woodbridge house iu this town was built at White Hall, 

near old Mystic. 
The first York house was built at Anguilla, on land which Mr. 

William York now owns, and near the house which he now 

occupies. 



OLD HOMES IN STONINGTON. 273 

FAMILY NAMES FOUND ON OUR EARLY RECORDS, WHICH 
ARE NOW NEARLY (HI QUITE EXTINCT IN STONINOTON. 

Amos, Ashcraft, Badger, Bell, Button, Bloggett, Bowdisli, Bart- 
lett, Brand, Bolles, Brooks, Bucliway, Barot, Brackenbury, Cady, 
Cale, Caye, Carder, Curtice, Clesbey, Cozens, Caldwell, Church, 
Charte, Cables, Cross, Catt'ee, Carliug, Cranston, Carter, Crucer, Cur- 
tis, Davison, ])ennis, Dudley, Darrow, Downing, Dye, Earle, Eddy, 
Elliott, Ellis, Fellows, Fanning, Ford, Force, Fisk, Fling, Goodwille, 
Gibbons, Gager, Gallea, Galloway, Gambal, Gifford, Goddard, Gus- 
tin, Hallett, Halsey, Hollyoake, Hopkins, Herrick, Rowland, 
Hamilton, Hobs, Hudson, Ingraham, Irish, Jamison, Jacques, 
Juell, Keizer, Kimball, Killom, Kegwin, Lambert, Lawrison, Leeds, 
Lester, London, Low, Lippincott, Lynd, :\[orehouse, McCarty, 
Meacham, McDowell, jSIott, Moxley, Neff, Newell, Nutter, Page, 
Palmetter, Pike, Plumb, PooUer, Pickles, Person, Pierson, Bich- 
ards, Rockwell, Pvuff, Saxton, Searle, Seter, Seabury, Sprague, 
Sterry, Starkwether, Stockwell, Straton, Stoyell, Swayt, Udall, 
Utley, A'anpelt, Yarian, Weaver, Willett, Wottells, Woodhouse, 
Wiat, AVilley, Widger, Woodburn, Woodman, Worthington, Wight, 
Yerrington. 



INDEX. 



Admiral Pococke 
Agreement Hill, 
Alden, Priscilla, 

'< John, 
Amy, f^ank, 
Angier, Katharine, 
Anguilla, . . 7> i^j 
Anguilla Meeting- House, 
Ash, Thomas, . 
Ash, Selina, . 
Ashbey, George, 
Atwood's Works, 
" FLugene, 

Avery, Stephen, 
" James, 

B 
Babcock, Anne, 

" Adam, 

B. F., . 

" Charles, 

" Elias, 

" Elihu, 

" Frank, 

" Harry, 

'< James, 

" Jonathan, 

" Joshua, 

" Luke, . 

" Nathan, 

'< Oliver, 

" Paul, 

" Samuel, 
Baldwin, Asa, . 

" Eunice, 

<' Henry, 



Page 
10, 12, 13, 16 



15, 



198 

198 

125 

36 

12, 37 

40 

154 
. 154 

143 
120, 150 

135 

72, 3, 89» 176 

180 



54 



216 
231 

134 

196 
28 

244 
• 159 

231 
216, 44 

216 
54, 231 

231 

. 193 

• 193 

231 

I, 3, 59 

221 

. 166 

59, JO^ 



117 



Bainbridge, Com., . 
Battery, Old, 
Band, Stonington, . 
Barnum, Capt. John, 
Bailey, Eunice, 
Beebe, Capt. Jesse, . 
Bell, Lucy, 
" Nancy, 
" William, . 
Bennett, Charles, 
Bentley, George, 
" Samuel, 
Bellamy, Jonathan, . 
Billings, Coddington, 
32, 74, 81 
" Mary, . 
" Sanford, i 
" William, . 
Bingham, Abel, . 
Black, John, . 
Bloomfield, Capt., 
Braman, John, 
Breed, Anna, . 
" Henry, 
" Insign, . 
" Jesse, 
" John, 
" Lucy, . 
<' Prentice, 
" Polly, . 
<' Prudence, 
" Roswell, 
'< Samuel, . 
Brown, Benjamin, . 
" Cynthia, 



Page 

• 117 
119 

• 130 
149 
169 
148 

. 231 
231 

14 

80 

221 

. 69 

• 157 
108, 14, 

. 60 

2, 112, 80 

. 181 

12S 

50 

14 

. 50, I 

. 219 

219, 20 

• 14 

219 

. 219 

200 

. Ill 

1 10, III 

. 66 

220 

. 220 

79 
. 212 



•275 



276 



INDEX. 



iferown, Daniel, 
Dolly, 

" Dudley, 
Elias, . 
*' Elijah, 
" Everett, 
" Herman, 



Page 

• 244 
221 

36 

86, 228 

50 

• 73 

219 



-" James, . 12, 163, 204 

'""''' Joanna, . . 68 

"" John, . . 219, 20 

■*• Joshua, . . 66, 8 

*' Nancy, . 109 

" Noyes, . . 55, 68 

Peleg, . . .108 

" Philetus, . . 76 

Randall, . 55, 66, 8 

" Stephen, . . 73 

" Susan, . . -197 

Bromley, Horace, . . 59 

" Luke, . .250 

Briggs, Jedediah, , . 76 

Brewster, Charles, . -115 

" George, . . 115 

" Mrs. George, . 149 

" Elder William, 194 

British Fleet, . 99 

Bradford, Alexander, . 232 

*' Gov. William, . 207 

Brook, Noyes, . . .11 

Brayton, Dr. C. E., . 136 

Brand, Samuel, . .229 

Burr, Aaron, . . 38, 157 

Burtch, Billings, . .141 

" Henry, . . 247 

" Thomas, . 141, 2 

Burnett, James, . . 171 

Burrows, Enoch, Si, 6, 7, 8, 90, 

117 

« Lucy, . . .81 

" Silas, . . 88 

C 

Capron, Mr., . . -85 

Cemetery, Catholic, . 107 

Carew, Simon, . . 145, 171 

Gate's House, . . 34 



Page 

Cavenaugh, Joseph, . .62 

Center, . . 13, 14, 15 

Champlin, Charles . . 221 

" Col. Joseph, 193, 6 

Chapman, Timothy, . 128 

Chippechaug Island, . 96 

Chesebrough, Amos, 107,44, 

98,200, 1,5,21 

" Charles, 245, 7 

<' David, 125, 245, 

7,8 

*' Denison, 153 

" Elias, . 252 

" Elihu, 13,14,29, 

139,40,96,201, 

3 
*' Elizabeth, 197 

'•' Enoch, 107,34, 44 

" Eunice, . 203 

" Ezra, 141, 2,52, 3 

" Mrs. Ezra, 141 

'• Fanny, 197,225, 

42 
" Fiddler Bill, 73 

" Gideon P. 198 

*•' Grandison, 96 

" Hannah, 96 

*' Jonathan, 170, 

249 
" Naboth, 201, 4 

" Nathan, . 14 

" Nathaniel, 12, 

107, 198 

" Samuel, 14, 32, 

108, 15, 43, 98 
" Sarah, . 127 
" Thomas, 204, 47 
" William, i, 204, 

45, 46, 47 

" Zebulon, 15, 40, 

51, 2, 163 

Church, . . . 9, 12 

" Parlors, . .26 

" First or West, . 16 

" First or East, . 16 



INDEX. 



277 



Page 
Clark, Alfred, . . 171 

" Jimmy, . . -149 

Clesebey, ^lary, . . 244 

'' ^Villiam, . 244 

Cleaveland, Mrs. Emily, 220 

Clift, Amos, . . . 81 

" Lydia, . . .116 

Cobb, Elkanah, . . 116 
Coddington, Gov. William, 207 
Collins, Daniel, 19, 20, 34, 5 

" Gilbert, 20, 35, 102,3, 
206 
Collingwood, Capt., . 126 
Coleraine, Mass., . . 34 

Commissioners of United 

Colonies, . . . 11 

Congdon, George, . . 249 
Copp, Brenton, . . 85 

" John, . . .43 

" Jonathan, . . 43 

" Samuel, . . '43 

Court, King's or Magistrate, 16 
Crandall, Abel, . . 252 
Crary, Nathan, . . 164 

" Peter, . . 1 13, 64 
Culver, George, . 170 

D 
Davis, Billings, 

" Clarke, . 

" Dudley, 

" Ethelinda, 

" Henry, 

" Lucy, 

" Lucreiia, 

" John, 

" Joseph, 

" William, . 
Dawes, Rev. Mr., 
Dean Mills, 

" Pond, . 

" House, 

" Phannee, 

" Fanny, 

" Jabez, . 

" James, 



190, 



171 
1,6 

• 205 

106 

146 

. 76 

191 

233, 5 

i39j 191 

■ 52 

153 
16, 46 

53 

47,8 

16 

49. 50» 51 

52 

. 46 



Page 
Dean, Jesse, 15, 16,49, 5o, i, 2, 

253 

" John, . . 15,33,46 

" Nancy, . 253 

" Welthian, . . 42 

Dennis, Esther, . . 203 

Denison, Amos, 40, 162, 240 

" Ann, . . 174,95 

" Beebe, . . 96 

" Darius, . 60, 61 

" Debby, . . 15, 58 

" Dorothy, . . 5 

" Ebenezer, . 79, 99 

" Edward, 30, 96, 152 

" Eiias, . 249, 50 

" Elisha, . .196 

" Esther, 59, 87, 139 

" Ethan, . .34,52 

" Eunice, . -197 

" Ezra, . . 248 

" Frederick, . 97, 230, 

" George, 5, 7, 8, 10, 45, 

64. 93. 4, 5, 9» 125, 

152. 65, 95 
" Grace, . . 197 
" Hannah, . 79 

" Isaac, . 99, 166 
'•' John,i4, 30, 97, 9, 100, 

52, 88, 224. 
'' Jonathan, . 101 

" "Joseph, . sS, 165 
" Justin, . . 20 

" Lavinia, . -99 
" Lois, . . 34, 151 
" Lucy, . .146 

" Margaret, . 96 

" Mary, . So 

'* Mercy, . .165 

" Nancv, . . 34 

" Oliver, . . 65 
" Peleg, . . 40 
" Prentice, . .101 
" Prudence, 100, i 

" Robert, . 5, 58 
" Sally, . 146 



•278 


INDEX. 






Page 




Page 


Denison, Samuel, 


134, 5 


Fish, Rev. Mr., 


75 


" Thankfull, 


166, 233, 6 


" Mrs. Sarah, . 


127 


" William, 7, 


45> 60, 75, 


Fort Griswold, 


29 


100, I. 




Ford, Mr. and Mrs. Reuben, 7,65 


Dewey, Jesse, 


• 31 


Franklin, Benjamin, 


211, 12 


Dickenson, Frank, . 


. 96 


Frink, George, 


• 205 


Dixon, Nathan F., 


146 


" Samuel, 


5, 178 


Dyer, Waity, 


29 


" William, 


5 


E 




Q 




Eastman, Susannah, 


. 176 


Gallup, Amos, . 


• 29 


Edwards, Daniel, . 


127 


" Benadam, 


66 


" Eugene, 


162 


*•' Dean, 


20, 52 


" Mrs. Eugene, . 159 


" Elias, . 


51 


Eells, Benjamin, 


• 134 


" Mrs. Elias, 


141 


" Betsey, 


114 


" Elisha, 


S3 


" Hannah, 


. 214 


" Esther, . 


55»79 


" Joseph, 


114, 134 


" John, 7, 42, 66, 


79. 94 


" Nathaniel, 16, 


133, 210, II, 


" Joseph, . 


. 90 


12. 




" Joshua, 


57 


Eldredge, Daniel, 


. 78 


" Mary, . 


. 40 


" Mary, 


190 


" Nat.', . 


171 


" Zerviah, 


• 55 


" Nehemiah, 


241 


England, 


5. 7. iS 


" Samuel, 


79 


English, 


7 


" Temperance, 


. 69 


Englishman, . 


48 


" William, 


. 69 


Enos, Jemima, . 


• 57 


Gardner, Abiel, . 


222, 24 


F 




" Caleb, 


225 


Fairbrother, Isaac N., . 149 


" John, . 


222 


Fairfield, Hannah, 


171 


" Joshua, 


. 225 


Fanning, Edmund, 


9, 129 


" Lucy, . 


221 


" Gilbert, . 


16, 56, 7 


Garside Family, 


73 


" Nathaniel, 


. 56 


Gavitt, George, . 


228 


" Zerviah, . 


173 


Grey, Dr. Jonathan, 


31 


Fellows Mill, 


18 


" Mary, 


. 40 


" Elnathan, 


106, 15, 61 


Greenman, Catherine, 


. 226 


" George, . 


13T 


" Elder, 


• 171 


" Lydia, 


106, 15, 162 


" George, 


89 


" Priscilla, 


. 162 


Grinnell, Charles, 


. 48 


Fish, Asa, 


• 21, 49, 52 


Grist Mill, . 


• 56 


" Benjamin, 


. 178 


Griswold, Elder, 


• 171 


" Daniel, . 


. 241 


" Joseph, . 


34 


" Elisha, 


. 140 


" Matthew, 


. 137 


" James D., 


. 48 


Groton, 


70 


" Mrs. Mary, . 


140, I 


Graves, Hannah, 


• 27 



s- 



INDEX. 



279 



Page 



H 



Hall, Huldah, 


148 


Haley, Abigail, . 


61, 2 


" (jeorge, 


97, M2 


" Jeremiah, 


• 97 


" Joshua, 


• i53» 4 


" John, . 


. 162 


" Martha, 


50 


" Simeon, 


97 


Hallam, Edward, . 


36 


" Giles, . 85, 


147, 52 


" John, 36, 103 


,6, 171 


" Mary, 


107 


Hammond, Ann, 


• 123 


Hancox, Lucy, 


119 


Peleg, . 


119, 40 


Hart David, . 


156,69 


" Rev. Ira, 27, 35, 52 


3. 154, 


5, 71 




Hardy, Sir Thomas, . 


• 117 


Harvey, Uriah, 


40 


Haven, Robert M., . 


• 59 


Hazard, Esther, . 


216 


Hedding, Bartholomew, 


• 113 


Helmns, Abby, 


206 


" Oliver, 


. 226 


" Samuel, 


171 


Hempstead, Abigail, . 


76, i8r 


" Christopher, 


. 78 


" Diary, 


76,8 


" Richard, 


75, 76 


" Joshua, 


75,8 


Molly, . 


• 78 


" Robert, 


76 


Herrington, Joseph, . 


• 225 


Hewitt, Charles, . 


196 


" Benjamin, 


. 164 


' Charles, . 


196 


" Israel, . 


• 75 


Hillhouse, James, . 


54 


Hilliard, John, . 


• 34 


" Oliver, . 


241 


Sally, . 


. 61 


" Sarah, 


241 



Page 

57 



16 
49 



Hinckley Anne, 

Frank, . 
Harry, 
" Samuel, . 14, 
" Thomas, . 
Hobart, Daniel, , 
" Fanny, . 
" Mercy, 
" Rebecca, 
Holdredge, Hoi^estill, . 
Holmes, Erastus, 
" Isaac, 

" Jabish, . 115 

" Jerry, 
" Mary Ann, . 
'' Warren, 
" Zerviah, 
Home Lots, 
House Frame, . 
" Trading, . 
" Mansion, 
Howe, George, . 

" ^lary, . 
Hull, Amos, 
" Mrs. Charles S., 
" Jeremiah, . 
" John \V., 
" Latham, . 
Hubbard, George, . 

William, . 

Huntington Andrew, . 

" Mrs. Andrew, 

" Samuel, 

Hyde, Nancy, . . 61 

Hyde Store,' . . .85 

" John, . 61, 81, 3, 8, 90 

" Mrs. John, . ■ S^ 

" Dr. AVilliam, 108,9, io>4i7, 

175 



215 

• 244 
210, 15 

• 225 

154 
. 28 

. 90 
. 96 

161 

• 92 
49 

> 19 

. 97 

68 

80 

168 

9 

2 

5 

7 

. 14 

131 

164 

10 

165 
160, 4 

164,5 
117 

158 

157 

• 157 

• 54 



131 



I 



Indian burying ground, 
" Chief Oneco, . 
" and French war, 



280 



INDEX. 



Page 

Indian Chief Canonchet, . 7 

*' Town, . . . 69 

" Narragansett and NVam- 

paneag, . . 7 

" Pequods, . S, 10, 27 

" WigAvams, . 173 

Indies, West, . . -53 

Irish, George, . . 196 

J 
Jackson, Andrew, . 51, 1 1 S 
" house, .251 

Jefferson, Thomas. . -137 
Jeffords, Briggs, . . 224 

" John, . . -113 
Jeffries. Elizabeth, . . 244 
Johnson, Peter, . -51 

Jones, Capt. John Paul, 

K 
Kellogg, David, . . 77 

Kenyon, Perry, . . .221 
Kirtland. Mary, . . 219 

L 

Langworthy, George, . . 90 

" Henry, . 106 

" Dea. Samuel, 90, 

106, 115 

Lary, Dudley, . . 51 

Lane, Lovers', . . . 46, 7 

Long Island Sound, . . 95 

Latham, Gary, . . 7 

" Capt. William, . 29 

Leeds, Alonzo, . . 51 

" Mrs. Hannah, . 51 

" Mrs. Harriet C . 89 

" Thomas, . . 89 

Led ward, Anne . . 74 

" Col. William, . 74 

Lester, David, . . 168 

Priscilla, . 169, 88 

Lewis, Dea. B. F., . 90 

" Dea. Charles, . 59 

" Dea. Warren, . . 7 

Lord. James A., . . ;^S 

" Dr. William, . i6r 



Page 
• 31 

5 
. 5 

5 



Y> 



196, 24-j ^vl 
I, 245, ^ 
97 

• 97 
. 88,9 

• 95> 6 
.96 



Lord, Albemarle, 
Lynde, Joseph, 

" Mrs. Lynde, 

" Nicholas, 

M 

Main, Charles H., 

" Irtis, 
Mallory, Charles, . 
^Manning, John, 

" Dr. Mason, 

Mason, Daniel, 

" Island, 

" Major John, S, 11, 92, 

" Col. Joseph, . 176 

•' Samuel, . • 59> 92, 5 

McCabe, Joseph, . . 62 

McDonald, Rev. James, S^ 

McDowell, Archibald, . 244 

" Fergus, . . 244 

" Mary, . 245 

Merrill, Frank, . .218 

Miller, Gen., . . 117 

Milley, Robert, . . 35 

Miner, Ambrose, . . 6 1 

•' Charles, . .216 

'' Clement, . . iSi 

" Cornelius, . . 7 

" David, . . 61 

" Elias, . 2 1 S, 19, 20 

" Elnathan, . . 61 

" Mrs. EHsha, . 75 

" Ephriam, . 12, 180 

'* Erastus, . . 204, 16 

" Grace, . . .62 

" Harriet, . . 153 

" Hempstead, . . 127 

" Isaac, . . 219 

" Jesse, . . .61 

" Joseph, . . 14 

" Latham, . 9, 219 

" Mar}', . 174 

" Nathaniel, . 144, 53 

" Mrs. Remembrance, 153 



INDEX. 



281 



Page 

179 
5, 6, 8, 12, 59, 



61 

35 
103 
1 1 
5 
45 
147 
62 
208, 9 
. 40, 62 
144 
126 
. 126 
126, 38 
117, 18 

5ij 196 
I, 20,96 

134 

97 



Miner, Samuel, 
" Thomas, 
62, 95 
" William, 
Mint House, 
Mistuxet Ave., . 
Montauk Ave., 
Montville, 
Morey, Mr., . 
Morrell, Capt. Benjamin, 
Moss, Caroline, 
" Jesse, 
" William C, . 
Muller, August, . 
Mumford, Robert, . 
<' Robertson, 
" Thomas, 
Munroe, Pres. James, 
Mix, Zebediah, . 
Mystic, 

" Meeting-house, 

" River, . 

" Valley Water Co., 46, 53 

N 
Nichols, John, . . 241 
Niles, Charlotte, . .114 

" Eliza, . . . ^15 

" Capt. Lodowick, i i3>Mj37 
Norman, James, . 36, 90 
North Stonington, . 69 

Noyes, Capt. Ben., . • 104 

" Betsey, . • 105 

" Charles, 20, 9, 159, 96, 
202 

" Cyrus, . 

" Denison, . 

'< Edmund S., 

" Esther, 

»< Frank, . 

" Francis, . 

" (ieorge, 

« Hoxie, 

'• James, 1 1, 12, 13, 27, 31, 
104, 5»6, 1, 8, 12, 25 



. 171 
201, 9 

• 31 
212 

34, 130 

38, 162 

40, 207 

206 



Page 

Noyes, Jesse, . . 34» 205 

John, 27, 31, 197, 207, 8 

" Joseph, 31, 176, 96, 7, 

206, 8, 29 
" Martha, 68, 207, 29 

" Mary, . • 206 
" Nancy, . • .62 

<' Nathan, 20, 7, 34, 62, 

161 
'< Nathaniel, 105, 165, 200 
'' Paul, . - 205 

«' Peleg, . • .206 
" Mrs. Sarah, . 131 
" Thomas, 14, 38, 103, 8, 
196, 7, 205, 6 

O 

Ocean Bank, . • 125 

Old Mystic, . • .81 
Osbrook Grove, . . 233 

P 
Page, Joseph, . . 37 

Palmer, Albert, 1 30> 46 

" Alden, . 62, 195 

" Mrs. Alden, . .236 
" Alec, . 53> 55, 62 
<' Amos, T12, 14, 16, 20, 

2, 3, 37, 46 

" Andrew, . 250, i 

" Benjamin, . 210, 38 

" Delia, . 35> 62 

" Denison, 162, 241, 6 

" Dudley, . • 140 

" Edwin, . 56 

" Elihu, . 238, 51 

" Elijah, . . 140 

" EmmaW., . 108 

'< Eugene, . 21, 53, 194 

" Fanny, . .116 

" Frank, . . -56 

" Ceorge, 119, -2, 3, 4, 

249 
" Gershom, 195, 217, iS, 

19, 20 

" Grace, • 5, '4 



:i«'J INDEX. 


Page 


Page 


Palmer, Harriet, . 146 


Pendleton, Oscar, . 147 


" Henry, 11, 95, loi, 95 


Pennsylvania, . . .20 


" Ira, . . -153 


Pequotsepos Valley, . .65 


" James, . . 214, 36 


Phelps, Charles, 32, 104, 13, 22, 


" John, . . .237 


35» 57» 9, 60 


" Jonathan, 1 14, 36, 8 


" Erskine, . -31 


" Juliet, . . 120 


" Hannah, . . 135 


" Justice, . . 14 


" Hebsibeth, . . 204 


" Lemuel, . 236 


" Jonathan, .114, 200 


" Lucretia, . . 252 


Joseph, . . 159 


" Luke, . . 208 


" Place, . . .12 


" Widow Luke, . 146 


" Stiles, . 149, 79, 200 


" Mary, . . 15 


Pickering, Thomas, . 155 


" Moses, . 12, 239 


Pistol Point, . . -97 


*' Nathan, . . 153, 241 


Post Office at Stonington, 136 


" Nathaniel, 108, 20, 208 


Potter, Ann, ... 34 


" Nehemiah, 12,221,40 


" Sarah, . . . 204 


" Noyes, 62, 8, loi, 96 


Powers, Thomas, . . 155 


" Mrs. Paul, . 237 


Prentice, Chester, . -171 


*' Phebe, . . 201 


Preston, . . . .129 


" Prudence, . 136 


Pumping Station, . . 55, 56 


" Reuben, . .241 


Putnam Corners, 13,113,93 


'' Rhoda, . . 109, 40 


" Jedediah, . -193 


" Robert, 113, 14, 34 


Q 


" Sally or Sarah, 68, 252 


" Samuel, . .214 


Quatautaug, . . i, 9, 92 


" Susan, . . 151 
" Theodore, . -179 


Quiambaug, . . . 12, 15 


Quiambaug Cove, i, 8, 62, loi 


" Thomas, 20, t,t„ 5,61, 2 


R 


" Walter, i, 5, 10, 12, 120, 


Randall, Abigail, . . 146 


195, 218, z^ 


Charles, . . 2 


"■ William, . . 171 


" Desire, . . 176 


" Mrs. William, . 146 


" Dudley, . .216 


" Mrs. Zeba, . 237 


Elias, . . 218 


Park Burrows, . .164 


Elizabeth, . . 68 


" Leander, . . .42 


" John, . . 217 


" Robert, ... 9 


" Thomas, . .180 


Pawcatuck, . . 2, 9, 1 1 1 


" Col. William, 117, 76, 


" Rock, . . I, 12 


217 


Pendleton, Benjamin, 146, 214 


Railroad, Stonington, . 146 


'•' Frank, . 20, 210 


Rathbone, Rev. John, . 108 


" Gurdon, . -152 


Revolution, Children of, 14 


" John, . 21 2, 25 


Reynolds, John, . .92 


" Capt. Joshua, 148 


Rhodes, Mrs. Henry, . 237 


" Moses, . -147 


" Capt. Simon, 54, 216 



INDEX. 



283 



E.iding Way, . 
Richardson, Jonathan, 
" Prudence, 

'• Stephen, 

Ringold, Capt., 
Road, 

" Church, . 

<' Cemetery, . 

" Cong. Society, 

" Meeting-house, 

36,53. 78 
" Society land, 
Hobinson, Joshua, . 

" WilUam, 
Rodgers, Admiral, . 
" Commodore 

82 

" Mrs. George, 

" Mrs. Orson, 

" Lieut. A. P., 

E.odman, William, • 

E-Ogers, Mrs. George, 

" Mrs. Orson, 

Rossiter, Rev. Ebenezer, 16, 32, 

3,4, 8, 75,84 

" Hannah, . 34 

" Mary, • • 35 

" Mehitable, . 35, 84 

Rouse, Mr., • • -20 

Russell, Col. Giles, 3^, 201, 9 




Mrs. Content, 
5 

Sanford, Elizabeth, 

" Gov. Peleg, 
Saxton, Capt. Joseph, . 

" Mary, 
Scholfields, The, . 

'< Capt. Thomas, 
Scott, Rebecca, 
Seabury, Esther, . 
" John, . 
«' Samuel, . 
Searle, Benjamin, 
" John, 



38 



207 
207 

• 37 
181 

• 51 
154 

• 225 

• 43 

43. ^99 
199 

. 36 
9 



Shaw, Amos, . 
" Hiram 
" Jeremiah, 
" John, . 
Sheffield Acors, 
" Amos, 
<' George, 
" Sally, 
Sherman, Maria, 
Short, Bridget, 
'< Edward, 
Slack, Mary, 

" William, 
Smith, Alexander, 
'•' Charles, 
" Edward, 
" Emma A., . 
" Frank, . 
" Giles, 
" Henry, . 
" Israel, 
" Jane, 
" Col. Joseph 
217. 237 
" Lucinda, . 
" Mary, . 
'• Nancy, 
" Nathan, . 
" Col. Oliver, . 
" Orsemus, 
Smithsonian Institution 
Spalding, Mr. Burrows, 
Sparger, Edward, 
States, Adam, 
'• Gilbert, . 
" Honor, 
Stanton, Amariah, 
" Bridget, 
" Brothers, 
" Charles, 
David, . 
»' Daniel, 
" Dorothy, 
'•■ Eldredge, 
" Edward, . 



107 



Page 

77 
171 
170 

), 192 

. 145 

144,5 

227 

144 

156 
59 
• 59 
200 
200 
125,132 
161, 96, 7, 217 
99. 125 
. 27, 146 
193,6 
217 
. 16, 217, 36 
12 
.64 
131. 54, 97, 

137 

. 237 

114, 132 

. 217 

loi, 99 

165 

44 

48 

27 

197, 212, 25 

. 215 

144 

• 174 
69 

44, 53 
171 

• 90 
1S6, 9 

5, II, lOI 

■ 55 
70 



284 



INDEX. 



Page 
92, 236, 42 

• 113 
. 29, 186 

• 45 
2 

• 31 
142 

• 45, 62 

1 1 1 

III, 12, 201 

• 53, 5 

■ 31 

III, 201, 9, 



Stanton, Elias, . 
" Elizabeth, 
Enoch, . 
" Frank, . 
" Mrs. Harriet, 
Henry Clay, 
" Jimmy, 
" Maria, . 
" Mercy, 
" Nathan, 
" Phineas, . 
" Prudence, 
" vSamuel, 

42, 8, 52 

" Thomas, 2, 5, 12, 94, 

126,208,33,36,40,41 

Wait, . . 29 

" William, 14, 92, 235 

"\ Zebulon, 29, 136, 8 

" Zerviah, . .241 

Stewart, Denison, . . 180 

Stillman, William, . .222 

Stoney Brook, . . 18 

Stonington, i, 7, 9, 14, 95, 6 

" Borough, . -103 

Streets, Broad, . . 112 

" Charles, . . no, 72 

•' Harmony, , . 108 

" Main, 112, 25, 8, 38 

" Wall, . . 125 

Water, 108, 12, 15, 16, 25 



Swan, George, 
" John, . 
" Joshua, 
" Phebe, . 
" Roswell, 
" Thomas, 
Swift, Gen., . 
Sylvia, 

T 
Taugwank, 
Tavern House, 
Taylor, Constant, 
Terrett, John, . 
William, 



. 146 

. 146, 76 

113, 39 

• • 159 

146 

116, 17, 18 

• 117 

18 

9 

• T9 

. 248 

153 
III, 12 



Page- 
Thompson, Abigail, 229, 30- 
Bridget,' . 5, 8 
" Mary. . . 103, 
Polly'. . . 66- 
" Samuel. . 229 
" William, 10, 94, 193, 
Trerice. John, ... 5. 
Trumbull, Frank, . . 115, 
" Gurdon, 118, 23, 47, 54 
" H. Clay, . 118, 47 
" Horace N., . 14 
" John. . . 112, 15 
" Samuel, . . i 12, 13 
Turner, Hannah, , 170,1 
" Molly, . .174 
" Wealthy, . . 170. 
Turnpike, . . . 71 
Tyler, President, . .119 

U 
Umphrey's Orchard, . 103. 

V 

Van Buren, Vice Pres., 1 18- 

Vargus, . . . i8- 

Venture, . . 67, 125, 67 

" Stone, . 128, 181 

Vincent, Albert, . . 205: 

" Asa, . . .251 

" John, . . . 205 

" William, . 225 

Vose, (jrace, . . 195 

W 

Wamphassett, . . 104 

Waldo, S. Putnam, . .117 

Wadawanuck Hotel, . 119^ 

" Square, . 139 

War, King Philip's, . . 4 

Wallworth, Sylvester, . 40 

Washington, George, 84, 125, 37 

Wayland, Charles N., -150- 

Waldron, George, . 151 

" Jonathan, . .150- 

" Nathaniel, . 151 

Wequetequock, . 5, 10, 12 

" Cove, . 1 2 



INDEX. 



285 



Page 
AVentworth, Erastus, 212, 13, 14 
Webster, . . . 85, 6 
"Whale Walk, . . -135 
Wheeler, Arthur, . . 180 
" Avenue, . -174 
" Avery, . . 170 
" Caroline, . .178 

" Cyrus, . . 176 

*' David, . . .169 

" Dudley, . . 165 
*' Klam, . . .171 
" Eleazer, . . 38 

*' Elias, . . .174 
"' Eiisha, . . 191 
" Esther, . .166, 86 
*' Ezra, . . . . 205 
^' Fernando, . .196 
" Giles, . . 71 

" Hannah, . . 107 
*' Isaac, . 177, 88, 250 
*' John, . 173, 4, 205 
"' Jonathan, 59, 165,9, 74, 

86, 89 
*' Joseph, . .165 

*' Joshua, . . 174 

" Lester, . 164, 9, 70 

" Lucy, . . 62, 9, 70 

*' Mary, 73,177,8,88, 216 
*' Nancy, . .174 

^' Nat, . . 52, 66 

" Nathan, 27, 71, 177 
•" Nelson, . .165 
*' Paul, . 175, 67, 216 
*' Perez, . .176 

*' Prentice, . 166 

" Rali)h, . .171 

" Richard, 62, 164, 7, 71 

82, 88, 205 
*' Robert, . .163, 
Rufus, . . 181 

*' Russell, . . 85 
*' Samuel, . .165 
*' Si'as, , . .66 

" Thomas, 12, 73, 163, 77 
^' Warren, . -173 



Page 
Wheeler, William, 67, 70, i 

Whiting, John, . 105, 6 

Whitefield, George, 14, 78, 133, 

81, 226 

White Hall Mansion, . 68 

White, Martin, . . 77 

" Meeting House, 14, 113 

" Hepsibah, . 2 28 

Whipple, Cyprian, . . 41 

'• Dorothy, . .41 

" Samuel, . . 41 

" Symonds, . 36, 40 

Whistler, Major and Mrs., 123 

Whitford, Clark N.. . 170 

Whittlesey, Rev. Mr., 171 

Wilbur, Peleg, . . 153 

Wickham, Joseph, . . 99 

" Mrs. Phebe, . 99 

Wilcox, Asa, . . 152 

" Fanny, . -153 

'•■ Jared, . . 69 

<' Theo, . . 141 

" Thomas, . . 143 

Willey, Rev. Mr., . 146 

Williams, Abby, . -76 

" Amos, . . 86 

" B. F., . . 20 

" Calvin, . 170 

" Charles, 149, 204, 50 

" Denison, . 52 

" Ebenezer, . 73, 75> 

" Ellen, . . 110 

" Eleazer, . . 93 

'' Eiisha, . 52, 166 

" Elias, . . 94 

" Elijah, . . 84 

" Emmeline, . 116 

" Ephraim, 1 10, 202, 4, 

48, 50 
" Esther, . 81, 203 
" Eunice, . . 166 
" Horace, . . 85 
" Isaac, . . 176 

" John, . . 66 

" Josei)h, . 94 



286 



INDEX. 



Williams, Joshua, , 
" Leonard, 
" Martha, 

" Mary, . 

Nathan, 
•* Nathaniel, 
" Nehemiah, 

Park, . 
" Prentice, 
" Priscilla, 
Robert, . 
Russell, 
" Sally, 

" Sanford, 
" Stanton, . 
" Thomas, 
" Warham, . 

William, 1 1 
" Zerviah, 
Wilkenson House, 
Wilson, Rev. R. S., 
Winthrop, Gov., 
Witch Woods, 
Witter, Josiah, . 
Wood, Thomas, 
Woodburn, Margaret, 
Woodbridge, Dudley, 
William, 
Woodcock, George, . 



Page 

92 

• 85,6 

• 93 
170 

• 94 
173 

• 91, 2 

. 92 
91, 2 
169 
66,7 
174 
. . 76 
92 
. 9 4 
75,6 
170 
o, 9h 5, 9 
• 37 
1 12 
. 146 
. 80 
79 
9 
. 176 
225 
37, 68, 70 
193. 230,3 
59. 60 



119 
1 1 
246- 
72 
139 
2 16 
160 

139- 
196 



Pace 
Woodruff, Rev. Hezekiah, 134, 5, 

46. 
Woggs, Barbara, . 17, 

Wolf Neck, . . . "77,0 
Worthington, Rev. William, 6a 
Wright, Joseph, 
Yale Goilege. 
Yeomans, Moses, . 
York, Bertha, 

" Hotel, . . ' . 

" James, . . g 

" Jesse, 

" Oliver, 

" William, 

Index to Addenda. 

Customs and Fashions, 

Death of Canonchet, 

Emancipation of slaves, 

Indenture, 

Letter to the Commander of 

the ship " Minerva " 
Location of the old houses, 
Naming the cross streets, . 
Old names on records, 
Poetry upon the battle of 

Stonington, . 
Reviews and trainings. 
Schools of ye olden time 
Stonington Batteries, 



■ 254 
267 

26S ^ 

266 
270 
262 
273 

264 
258 
259 
263 



J 928 



•^ 



